That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night
by Kellie Fay
Summary: Can Michelangelo keep Raphael and his brothers safe when his nightmares start to come true?
1. Prolouge

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people not me.

Prologue:

"Mikey!" Raphael yelled as he pulled on the thick heavy rope. "Mikey, you gotta help me!"

Michelangelo couldn't see anything around him. He seemed to be in a dark room filled with a sticky cool fog. He stood between Raphael and a young woman he did not recognize. Both of them were engaged in a tug-of-war against each other, and both were calling on Michelangelo for help.

"You can't help him!" The strange woman told Michelangelo. "I have to make you understand. The only way to survive is to help me!"

"Don't listen to her, Mikey!" Raphael called. "Help me! For crying out loud!"

There wasn't any question on who he would help. Without a moment of hesitation he ran over to his brother, and grabbed hold of the rope. Together they pulled the rope out of the woman's hands.

"We did it!" Michelangelo said happily. A dark eery chuckle made him turn and face Raphael. "Raph?"

Raphael continued to laugh maniacally as his eyes began to glow red, and his body began to take on a sickly orange green tinge. "Yes we did, fool!" Without any warning at all Raphael drew his sai, and struck out at Michelangelo.

Michelangelo managed to block the surprise attack, and jump backwards to give himself more room to move. "Raph! What the shell do you think you're doing?"

"Getting rid of a nuisance!" Raphael said as he struck out again. Again Michelangelo had to scramble to get out of the way.

"But Raph, why? What did I do?" Michelangelo begged his brother for an answer.

Raphael continued to laugh as the orange shadow around his skin became black leathery wings and dirty brown horns. He seemed to grow before Michelangelo until he was twice the size of his brother. "Raphael is dead, turtle boy," The thing that now only bore a slight resemblance to Raphael said. "And now so are you!" It pointed its sai towards Michelangelo, and somehow Michelangelo knew he would not be able to avoid that blow.

"Raph! No!"

"No!"

Michelangelo sat up suddenly wondering if he were dead or not. As he blinked and rubbed his eyes he felt his mattress underneath him, and his flannel Yankees throw blanket over him, and he remembered where he was. He glanced over at his alarm clock. It was only three o'clock in the morning.

"Man," Michelangelo mumbled to himself as he shook his head to clear it. Klunk, the stray cat Michelangelo had discovered last Christmas meowed, jumped up on the bed, and rubbed his head against his owners hand.

"Klunk?" Michelangelo asked as he got his bearings again. Suddenly afraid he picked up his kitten and cuddled him, as Michelangelo shivered in his bed.

"It was that same dream again, Klunk," Michelangelo said. "That's the third time this week, and when I have a nightmare more than once..." Michelangelo hugged the cat close to his chest. "I don't understand. I keep dreaming that Raph is going to turn into some kind of monster, but how can that be? And why am I having these dreams again anyway? I haven't done stuff like this in years."

Klunk didn't have a answer to any of this. He merely meowed softly, and purred to sooth his master. Tired Michelangelo lay back down, cuddling the kitten close.

"What am I going to do Klunk?" Michelangelo yawned before sleep claimed him again. "What the shell am I going to do?"


	2. Chapter 1 The Warning

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 1 The warning.

It was just midnight as Raphael finished gearing up for a night above ground. He had been waiting for this night for over a week. Master Splinter had given him permission to spend the night and the day with Casey. He and Casey were planning on bashing thugs all night then watching movies during the day until nightfall when Raphael was scheduled to come home.

He placed one last shrunken in his belt, and added a thin metallic rope. He grinned thinking that Casey would have needed a whole duffle bag for his overnight paraphernalia. His packing done, Raphael left his room, eagerly anticipating the evening's events.

He passed by Leonardo's room, but Leonardo was absorbed in a book of ancient samurai strategy. Donatello had fallen asleep at his desk in his room again, the remains of some project or other were scattered about on the weather beaten wood. Michelangelo was also asleep, but as Raphael passed by he noticed that his brother's rest was not peaceful.

"No, no, don't go there. Raph come back!" Michelangelo muttered as he tossed and turned, wrapping the sheets around his body.

Puzzled Raphael peered deeper into the room to make sure Michelangelo wasn't awake. "Mikey?" He asked tentatively.

Michelangelo didn't answer him, instead he paused in his tossing, and began to speak in his sleep again. "No Raph get away from him! He's going to get you! NO GET AWAY RAPH! RAPH!"

Raphael frowned, but he entered the room anyway. Half the time this was one of Michelangelo's pranks, but on the other hand Michelangelo did have nightmares frequently, and sometimes they did get out of hand.

By the time he got over to Michelangelo Raphael knew that it really was a nightmare. Michelangelo's eyes were open, but he really wasn't seeing anything in front of him. He was half out of his bed reaching for his belt where his nunchucks should have been. They were under the bed instead of being on his belt at the moment, and Raphael was grateful. If Michelangelo had kept them closer he might have actually attacked Raphael before he fully woke up.

Raphael grabbed onto Michelangelo's hands, and restrained him as gently as he could. "Mike! Mikey! Wake up, your having another nightmare!"

Michelangelo struggled in his brother's grip. "No! Go away! Leave him alone! Get away from him! Raphael!"

"Mikey!" Raphael called giving him a hard shake. "I'm right here! Wake up for crying out loud!"

"Raph!" Michelangelo began then suddenly he blinked, and relaxed all at once. "Raph? That you?"

His voice sounded exhausted, and frightened. Raphael took Michelangelo's hand, and held it, so Michelangelo knew he was there. "I'm right here, Mikey. You okay?"

"Raph?" Michelangelo said, sounding still frightened, but more relieved. "I thought...I thought he got you?"

"Who, Mikey?" Raphael asked. "What were you dreaming about?"

"There, there's this thing, outside," Michelangelo began hesitantly. "It's after you. I could see it, but nobody else could. It was like hunting you or something. It wanted you for the blue plate special!"

The more he spoke the more frantic he became. His breathing was shallow and rapid, and Raphael could feel Michelangelo's pulse throb under his fingers rapidly. Concerned Raphael shook him again this time gently. "Easy, Mikey, it was just a dream. Nobody is making a dinner out of me."

Michelangelo still looked worried. "But, Raph, I can feel it. It's out there right now, looking for you!" Michelangelo yawned and blinked sleepily, but his hand tightened on Raphael's. You can't go out there, Raph. It's waiting for you."

"Mikey, it was just a dream," Raphael reminded him with more patience than he usually displayed. "Go back to sleep. I'm okay."

Michelangelo was fighting sleep, but soon he drifted away still mumbling. Raphael sat there for a few minutes wondering if Michelangelo had been fully awake to start with, and if not, would he remember this dream tomorrow. Once certain that Michelangelo wouldn't wake again, he softly crept from the room, and went downstairs to go to Casey's house.

At the elevator door he stopped. For a long time he simply looked at the door, and thought. Raphael then sighed, pulled out his shell cell, and dialed Casey's house.

"Hello," Casey's voice came over the phone.

"Hey Case," Raphael said.

"Raph! When are you getting over here?" Casey said happily.

"Um yeah, about that," Raphael said. "Casey, can you come pick me up in the morning instead? Something came up here, and I want to stay home tonight."

Concerned, Casey asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Raphael said, as he took as seat on the sofa. "It's kinda a long story. I'll tell you about it in the morning."

"Okay, I'll pick you up around seven," Casey said. He sounded confused, but willing to go along with it.

"See ya then Case," Raphael said. He heard the phone click off. He placed his shell cell back on his belt. He turned on the TV making sure to keep the volume low, but he really didn't pay attention to what he was watching. Instead he allowed his memory to flow backwards to a time when they had been very young mutant ninja turtles.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Some time in 1997:

"Come on baby!"

"I'm not a baby!"

Raphael was teasing Michelangelo again. For some reason Michelangelo had nightmares almost every other night. Splinter, who had been trying to give the growing turtles their space, had again taken to laying with them until Michelangelo had fallen asleep. Raphael, who was resenting the extra attention Michelangelo was getting, had taken to teasing about it terribly.

"Yes you are. A grown turtle doesn't need his sensei to sleep with him!" Raphael said mercilessly.

"Raph, leave Mikey alone!" Leonardo insisted. As much as Michelangelo's nightmares bothered the others, they didn't feel it was right to tease him especially when he was in tears almost every night.

"What for?" Raphael said as nastily as he could. "He is a big baby. I'm sick and tired of him crying every night."

"That's because you don't have enough imagination to have nightmares!" Leonardo shot back.

Donatello backed Leonardo up. "What would you do if you had dreams about giant spiders that were trying to eat us?" He asked.

"I don't have nightmares!" Raphael insisted. "Nightmares are for babies!"

"Nightmares are for people who have a brain." Leonardo said snidely.

That was enough for Raphael. He launched himself and Leonardo and the two began to fight on the floor.

Donatello went over to Michelangelo's side. "I think Leo's right, Raph doesn't have enough imagination to have nightmares." To his relief Michelangelo grinned slightly.

Raphael and Leonardo were rolling around on the floor fighting. Suddenly a piece of the floor gave way under Raphael. Instantly Leonardo rolled off of his brother, but held tightly to his hands, trying to keep Raphael from falling.

Leonardo braced himself against the ground, but he could feel himself being slowly dragged into the hole with Raphael.

"Leo!" Raphael called panicked. "Don't let go!"

"Don! Mikey! Help!" Leonardo called behind him. He didn't need to. As soon as they saw their brothers in trouble both turtles ran to help.

"Grab his legs!" Donatello said. "Pull!" Between Donatello and Michelangelo they managed to pull their two brothers from the gaping hole. For several minutes they all lay there panting, thinking about what a close call they had.

"You two have got to stop fighting," Donatello finally said. "One of these days one of you is going to really get hurt."

Leonardo sighed deeply. "You shouldn't tease Mikey like that Raph. Now you know how scared he feels during a nightmare."

"But this was real at least." Raphael shot back, but he sounded a bit subdued anyway.

"Nightmares feel real when your having them." Michelangelo said.

"Are we having a nightmare now?" Donatello asked.

The odd question, and his tone made the other three look up at him. Donatello had suddenly gone very pale, and was trembling slightly. "I don't' think so," Leonardo said. "What's wrong Donny?"

"Didn't Mikey say in that dream he had last night a giant spider was going to eat you and Raph?" Donatello asked.

"Yeah," Raphael said. "Why do you see one?"

"Actually, I do!" Donatello said uneasily.

"Where?" All three of them began looking around the walls for the spider.

"No guys look at the hole!" Donatello said. As their eyes began to focus on the broken floor they saw it. The cracked broken planks looked remarkably like the silhouette of a giant spider.

"That...that's it!" Michelangelo said. "That's exactly what the spider looked like in my dream!"

"And it did almost swallow Raph and Leo." Donatello said still sounding shaky.

Raphael felt a cold chill run down his shell. How could Michelangelo's dream be real?

Leonardo took in a deep breath, and made his tiny voice sound as business like as he could. "I think we'd better go find sensei."

Later all four of them had surrounded their father, and sensei and told him about how Michelangelo's nightmare had come true.

"Indeed," Splinter said with great interest. "Yes I have heard of such things happening before. That type of dream is called a premonition."

"Does that mean all of Mikey's dreams are gong to come true?" Donatello asked.

"I do not think so," Splinter said. "It may be that some of his dreams will come true, but not all of them."

"I don't want any of them to come true! " Michelangelo said emphatically. "They're bad!"

"They may be warnings." Splinter explained. "As the dream you had today was. I do not think you can stop your dreams Michelangelo, but we can heed their warnings, and take note."


	3. The Planning Begins

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 2 The planning begins

_He's doing it again. Mikey's predicting something again. I just know it!_ Back when they had been children Raphael had tried to pretend it wasn't true for the longest time, but secretly he payed very close attention every time Michelangelo had a nightmare after that day. Michelangelo went through a few days after that where he tried to stop sleeping. Of course that didn't work. Eventually Michelangelo realized as long as he told Splinter, or Leonardo his dreams, he would never have the same dream again. Much to his dismay, however his dreams did come true with startling frequency. By the time he was nine, though, the nightmares had stopped, and everyone, including Splinter had thought Michelangelo had outgrown it.

_It sure didn't sound like it tonight. That sounded exactly like the dreams he used to have way back when we were kids. Man, what could have started him off like that again? _Raphael wondered as he sat in the dark.

"Raph?" Leonardo's voice was directly behind him. "I thought you were going to Casey's tonight."

"Yeah I was," Raphael said, not turning around. "I changed my mind."

"You were looking forward to this for weeks," Leonardo said, starting to sound worried. He came over to the front of the couch, and looked at Raphael directly "What happened?"

"Mikey, happened," Raphael answered flatly. "I think he's starting to have _those_ dreams again."

"You noticed," Leonardo said evenly with a grin. "He's been having them for a few months now. I've already told Master Splinter. What did he tell you?"

"That there's something big and ugly out there that's wants deep fried Raphael for dinner,"

Leonardo eyed his brother oddly. "And that was enough to make you decide to stay until morning?"

Raphael shrugged. "It was more the fact that he didn't start freaking out until I walked by his door, and...well you know what Donny used to say. He'd always have a feeling which ones would come true or not. I can't tell you why, Leo, but I got that feeling tonight." Raphael then turned around and looked squarely at Leonardo. "When did he start telling you stuff?"

"Just after we tangled with The Shredder for the first time," Leonardo said, taking a seat on the battered lounge chair "It was about two weeks afterwards, and Mikey had fallen asleep in front of the TV."

The kick boxing tournament was starting in ten minutes. Leonardo moved over to the video monolith, and glanced over at the couch. "Mikey, do you mind if I–" He stopped in mid sentence smiling, because he had seen that Michelangelo had fallen asleep on his couch. He was about to nudge his brother awake, and tell him to go to bed when suddenly his eyes flew open, and he called out, "No! Look out!"

Leonardo instantly was next to him on the couch. "Mikey! Easy! You just had a bad dream."

Michelangelo blinked sleepily. "Leo? Oh man! I thought The Shredder was going to get us!"

"It was just a dream, Mikey," Leonardo said gently. Splinter got rid of him, remember?"

Michelangelo nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. It was just that it seemed so real."

"You aught to go to bed," Leonardo said. I napped earlier to watch the kick boxing tournament tonight.

"No!" Michelangelo said shaking his head emphatically. "I was staying up to watch it. I wanna see who's gonna win."

"If you're sure you're okay," Leonardo said. Michelangelo nodded again with more vigor. With a shrug Leonardo sat down on the floor, and grabbed the remote, leaving the couch to Michelangelo.

Two hours later, as the end credits scrolled down the screen, Leonardo smiled satisfied and shut off the TVs. Michelangelo had fallen asleep again half way through the show, but Leonardo didn't chase him to go off to bed, and he figured that he might as well leave Michelangelo sleeping where he was. He got up and was about to leave when he heard a sleepy mumble. "Mmmn Leo?"

"What is it, Mikey?" Leonardo asked. Was Michelangelo asleep or not?

"Just do me a favor," Michelangelo said. His eyes were closed his breathing even. Michelangelo had to be asleep, but he was talking. "Don't go out anywhere alone for a while. Okay?"

Leonardo smiled. It wasn't the first time that Michelangelo had carried on a conversation in his sleep. Except for Raphael they thought it was pretty cute. "Okay, Mikey," Leonardo said gently. "I promise I won't go anywhere out alone for a while. Now go back to sleep."

"Mnnn -kay," was the answer Michelangelo gave and he snuggled down into a deeper sleep.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"And you never said anything?" Raphael said furious. How could Leonardo keep something like that from them?

"It was only two weeks after we fought The Shredder," Leonardo explained. "I thought it was an anxiety dream. He gets those all the time, and for your information I didn't go anywhere alone for at least three weeks after that. I'm not crazy enough to take chances even if he hasn't predicted the future in years. When nothing happened at the end of three weeks, I figured it was just a fluke. The Foot didn't attack me for another two months after that. Then I made it a point to tell Master Splinter in Massachusetts"

"You should have told us when The Foot started searching for us in the sewers." Raphael said sourly. To his surprise Leonardo sighed and nodded.

"I know. I should have guessed that Mickey's premonition might be related to that, but I never made the connection. You remember the old rule. If it didn't happen within two weeks it probably wasn't going to."

"Do I even want to know why you're quoting that old rule?" A new voice asked. Raphael and Leonard turned behind them to see Donatello jumping down to the lower level. "And if it's what I'm thinking it is, am I correct in presuming that Mikey's become our little fortune teller again."

"We think so," Leonardo said with a sigh. He quickly gave Donatello a recap of what they had discussed.

Donatello took the news seriously. "That makes me wonder. If Mikey predicted the Shredder's return over a month before it happened. Maybe some of the dreams he had when we were younger came true after the two week deadline. We should look back at all those old notes Master Splinter kept on Mikey's nightmares."

"You two can play with that today," Raphael said. He got to his feet, and listened by the elevator. "I'm going to at least spend some of my time with Casey today. I'll be back by midnight."

"Are you sure you want to go out there Raphael?" Leonardo asked uncertainly. "I mean if Mikey dreamed that something was out there after you, it still might be out there."

"If he doesn't holler when I get in the elevator I'm going to guess I'm safe," Raphael explained. "I don't think whatever it is will be hunting me after sunrise."

"I hope your right," Leonardo said. Just then the elevator doors opened, and Casey was there.

"Hey guys," Casey said cheerfully. When he saw at all the serious faces he asked. "Okay fess up now. What's with you guys? Why did you stay home tonight?"

"I'll tell you on the way," Raphael said flatly. Casey gave an odd look, but said nothing.

"And make sure you don't come home alone." Leonardo said firmly. Raphael sighed, but he didn't argue.

"I won't," he said instead. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Leonardo and Donatello both watched as Raphael and Casey got into the elevator to leave. As soon as they were gone, Leonardo said, "Don, I want you to start on that as soon as we can get the notebooks. Let's do it while Mikey's sleeping. I don't think we should tell him yet. You know how he got the last time."

"We were six the last time," Donatello reminded him, but still he sat down at his computer and began to type in the two incidents. "But he hasn't changed much. I remember how relieved we all were when it finally stopped. I wonder why all of a sudden he's having premonitions again?"

"I don't know Don," Leonardo said uneasily. "But a lot of the ideas we had when we were kids are already proving wrong. The future Mikey predicted for me didn't come true for over two months."

"Okay then," Donatello said as he opened a special file. "All the old rules are on hold. I'm going to go over all of those notes. I'll see if I can find some kind of pattern."

"I'm not sure you'll find a pattern, Don." Leonardo said. "We were never able to find one before. Mikey's dreams always seemed to be pretty random."

"It seems that way, but you never know," Donatello explained. "It was a long time ago and we were just kids. Maybe there was something that we were overlooking."

"What was a long time ago, Donatello?" Splinter asked. He came up the steps to the laboratory joining Leonardo and Donatello.

"I think we might have a small situation, sensei," Leonardo said respectfully. "Raph said Mikey had some kind of odd nightmare last night. It creeped him out enough that he waited until morning, and he had Casey pick him up here."

"Indeed," Splinter said, a worried expression crossed his face. "This is most troublesome. Do you believe that Michelangelo's ability to predict the future has returned on a more permanent basis? He has not seen anything for us since he predicted your ambush many months ago"

"Hold on now," Donatello said. "We still don't know if what Mikey dreamed last night is a premonition. It hasn't come true yet."

"Raphael felt it was real enough, and he was he last one to believe in it the last time." Leonardo pointed out. "He said he got that feeling we used to get when we thought a dream was going to come true." Leonardo grew quiet in thought. "Sensei, do you mind if we skipped morning practice. I'd rather us do this now, than later when Mikey might be awake, and nosey."

"You wish to keep this from Michelangelo?" Splinter asked. The question was obviously a test of some kind, but Leonardo refused to take the bait.

"Right now, yes. If he remembers what he dreamed last night I'll tell him. He remembered dreaming about The Shredder, but I don't think he remembers telling me not to go anywhere alone. Until we know something solid, I don't want to get him worried."

Splinter nodded. "Very well then. I shall shift your training to eleven, just before lunch."

"Thank you, sensei," Leonardo said with a bow. Then he turned back to Donatello, and said. "Okay, Don, lets get to work."

Two hours later after sorting through Splinter's diaries concerning Michelangelo's dreams, both Leonardo and Donatello had to agree that most of what they thought they understood about Michelangelo's dreams had been plane wrong.

"Tell me I'm not seeing this, Donny." Leonardo said as he looked through the last of the notebooks.

"I wish I could," Donatello answered as he typed in the data. "The last set of dreams Mikey had were about the old lair, and how it was going to collapse."

Leonardo sighed and picked up a slip of paper he had been writing on. "Not to mention the two dreams about the Shredder, the one he had about the Garbage-man, and the three he had about the pretty redhead."

"You really think that's April?" Donatello asked.

Leonardo nodded. "It was about the same time he had the dreams about The Shredder. If we had only known back then that all this was going to come true!"

"We were kids, Leo," Donatello reminded him gently. "How could we imagine how our lives were going to change six years from then?"

"I guess you're right," Leonardo said reluctantly.

Donatello finished entering his data. "Okay back when we were nine we thought Mikey's dreams were accurate one in every seven. With this new data and things we now know did come true years later, we've boosted that number up to one in four." Donatello sighed. "Twenty five percent of Mikey's dreams have a habit of coming true, but we don't know when it will happen."

"So what do we do, Don?" Leonardo asked. "How do we know when one of Mikey's dreams are going to come true? Anything he says could take years!"

"Not really," Donatello explained. "Most of the dreams that came true within two weeks we guessed they would. Those are the ones one of us would always have a gut feeling about. They're also the ones he'd wake up screaming or crying about, or not remember telling us about. The dreams that have come true in the last two years he was very calm about, except for the lair collapsing. He'd just tell us what he was dreaming, and go back to sleep."

"And he didn't remember the ones about the lair collapsing either," Leonardo reminded him. We're just going to have to keep an eye on him, and see what happens."

Donatello nodded, then checked the clock. It was ten thirty. "Mikey's still sleeping?"

"He usually sleeps late when he has a nightmare," Leonardo observed. "Still we'd better finish up, before Splinter wakes him."

"They hid all the notebooks, and went into the dojo to begin practice. Ten minutes later Michelangelo came in. "What happen to morning practice?" He asked as he picked up his nunchucks.

"Splinter had something to do this morning, so he pushed it up to eleven," Leonardo said as he worked at his katas.

"Oh," Michelangelo, said. He looked at them oddly, but said nothing, and got down to practice.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Coming Soon Chapter 3 Annie:

"Annie? You was looking for us?" Casey asked.

"For him," Annie corrected Casey. "You're protected from the dekabor out there, but if you don't want your friend to end up the blue plate special you'll need my help."

_She sounds almost like Mikey did yesterday._ Raphael thought. "What do you mean?" Raphael said, resting his hands on his sai. "What's a dekabor?"

"More problems than you want to deal with." Annie said still striding forward. She reached out, and gently touched both of his shoulders. An electric charge seemed to flow through Raphael's body, and suddenly he was paralyzed.


	4. Chapter 3 Annie

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 3: Annie

"You have got to be kidding me," Casey said as he handed Raphael another soda. "How can Mikey predict the future?"

"We were never able to figure out that part," Raphael said as he lounged on Casey's floor. "He just did. Sometimes the dreams were more symbolic like that first one about the spider, but there were a few that were pretty blatant and obvious."

"So which was this?" Casey asked.

Raphael shook his head. "Don't know the answer to that one, Case. Donny used to be able to nail which of Mikey's dreams were going to come true all the time. He told us he'd get this feeling, like he could almost see what Mikey was describing in his head, and he'd get a prickly feeling on the inside of his shell. I got that feeling last night when I listened to him. That's why I stayed home. I couldn't shake the feeling that if I went out that night, I was going to run into something I couldn't handle on my own."

"But still something that was gonna eat you? Isn't that a little far fetched?" Casey tossed him another sandwich.

Raphael caught it easily without even looking. "Not when it comes to Mikey,' Raphael said. "Like I said sometimes the dreams meant something we didn't expect, but it came true anyway. I almost expected him to freak out again when we left this morning."

"So what are you going to do?" Casey said taking a sip of his soda.

Raphael sighed. "Depends on what Leo and Donny find out today. The one thing I do have to worry about is going off anywhere on my own. For years we thought Mikey's dreams had a two week deadline, but he predicted The Shredder going after Leo months ahead of time. So I have no idea if it's gonna happen tonight, or a year from now!"

"You wanna get back to the others," Casey said.

"How did you guess," Raphael asked. He knew he was being a kill joy today, but not knowing what was going on at home was getting him crazy.

"You four are like quads," Casey said. "When one of you is hurt the rest of you hurt too. I saw enough of that at my grandma's house in North Hampton."

Despite his worry Raphael smiled. "We're that obvious, huh?"

Casey smiled knowingly. "Pretty much. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, but when Leo was healing up the bunch of you kept picking up the slack for him. The three of you got all serious, and stopped squabbling. You never even yelled at Mikey the whole time we were there."

"I didn't?" Raphael tried to remember one time that he snapped at Michelangelo in the country, and couldn't recall. "Man, I must be slipping."

"Nahhh," Casey assured him. "Leo came first, teasing came behind everything else."

"I guess," Raphael said. He really didn't want to think back to their first stay in North Hampton

Casey looked out the window. "It's gonna be nightfall soon. We'll head back as soon as it gets dark. "

"I was gonna stay until midnight, at least that was what I told Leo." Raphael said. He finished the soda and crushed the can between his hands.

"Right," Casey said with a grin, "and you'd be miserable until we went back anyway. I don't mind. Splinter let you free one night, and the world didn't come to a crashing halt. He'll let you out again."

"If you don't mind, Case." Raphael said feeling a bit guilty. "I just feel bad dumping on you like that."

"We can still hang out," Casey said, "We'll just do it at your place."

_The other's are going to kill me._ Raphael thought to himself. Him coming up here was supposed to curtail Casey's visits, and subsequent destruction of the lair.

As soon as it grew dark Casey and Raphael, both armed to the teeth, began to head over to the lair. Eager to check up on the others at home, but not eager to be confined below again, Raphael suggested they take the street route over the rooftops. For some reason, even though it was early evening, there seemed to be a lot of muggers and low life's around.

"Hey Case," Raphael asked as he tied up another set of Purple Dragons. "How long has it been like this?"

"Don't look at me, pal. it just started getting like this two nights ago." Casey said. "One week everything is normal then all of a sudden, pow! Everything starts crawling out from under their rocks. Funny too, the news picked up on it, and they said a lot of the crooks were first timers, who later didn't know why they did it."

"That's weird." Raphael muttered. The truth was it was more than just weird. It bothered Raphael. For no reason at all he thought of Michelangelo back home. Did his dream ever mention anything like this at all? Then a thought came to him. _You can't go out there, Raph, it's waiting for you._ "Why would a bunch of first time hoods start mugging people all at once?" Raphael asked.

"Hey I just beat them up! Casey answered back with a shrug. "I don't ask why they do what they do. I just make them wish they hadn't!"

Raphael would have preferred to think more about this, but suddenly they heard a woman scream, and they raced down the street to rescue her. When they got to the street they saw a small dark haired woman dressed in blue. She had a small black monkey with a prehensile tail on her shoulder who was hissing, and batting back at the four thugs surrounding her. The thugs were nothing special. Raphael and Casey had seen their kind on more than one occasion. They were trying to rob the girl, or worse.

"Let the girl go!" Raphael said. Behind him he could hear Casey pull out his hockey stick from his golf bag.

"It's one of those freaks!" One of the Purple Dragons said. "Lets get him!" Two of the Purple Dragons advanced viciously towards Raphael, but he drew his sai, and deflected the blows easily. Behind him Casey swung his hockey stick high over his head, and went after three others. Once they were down a sixth pulled out a gun. Raphael threw his sai and disarmed the guy, then with a flying dragon kick sent him to the cement. One by one the gang members came to their senses, and ran off into the night.

As Raphael watched The Purple Dragons run away, he and Casey turned their attention to the girl. She was dusting herself off. She had dark auburn hair and soft brown eyes. She wore blue jeans and a denim blouse with an odd shaped star pendant made of some black stone with a metallic luster around her neck.

Casey seemed to recognize the girl. "Annie?" Casey asked.

The monkey hissed at him as well, but she calmed it with a word and a caress. "Casey," she said with a smile on her face. "Lucky for me you showed up."

"You shouldn't be out alone in this neighborhood," Raphael said. Something funny was gong on, but Raphael wasn't sure what it was. Then as she turned to him he realized it. She wasn't freaking out.

"So you're a friend of Casey's," she said directly to Raphael. It didn't sound like a question. "Lucky for me I didn't have to go to far to find you."

"To find me?" Not only wasn't she surprised to see him, but she sounded like she was looking for him.

The girl made a gesture, and the monkey went scampering for a fire escape. The girl then moved forward. He didn't know why but suddenly Raphael felt threatened by this strange young girl.

"Annie? You was looking for us?" Casey asked.

"For him," Annie corrected Casey. "You're protected from the dekabor out there, but if you don't want your friend to end up the blue plate special you'll need my help."

_She sounds almost like Mikey did yesterday._ Raphael thought. "What do you mean?" Raphael said, resting his hands on his sai. "What's a dekabor?"

"More problems than you want to deal with." Annie said still striding forward. She reached out, and gently touched both of his shoulders. An electric charge seemed to flow through Raphael's body, and suddenly he was paralyzed.

_What the shell?_ he asked. He couldn't move. He couldn't even speak. Casey instantly noticed, and savagely moved towards the girl. "Annie! What did you do to him?"

"I have to put protections on him," she said "If I don't the Dekabor will keep coming after him. Your friend is just the type of person he likes to use." She backed away from Raphael keeping her eye on Casey, who drew closer with his baseball bat in his hands.

"Annie, I don't want to hurt you, but whatever magic spell you just put on Raph I want you to take it off – ungh!"

Annie raised her hand, and a glowing sphere of energy appeared, and attacked Casey. It flung him against the wall where he landed stunned with a grunt. The girl waved her hands around Casey again muttering in some uncomprehensible language until he stopped struggling and lay still.

"It's for your own good Casey," she said evenly. "And your friend's." She turned her attention back to Raphael.

Raphael tried to move desperately, but it was like he had become a statue. He could see and hear perfectly well, but he couldn't even turn his head to check on Casey. When she came closer he could feel his panic rising.

"It's okay," she said. She reached out, gently touched his forehead, and traced a symbol there. A wave of calm flowed into him, and his muscles all relaxed. He wasn't exactly frozen anymore, but he wasn't able to move on his own either. The strangest thing was that all his emotions simply shut down, leaving him in a sleepy trance. He was still aware of everything, but he simply didn't care.

"There, that's better," the girl Casey called Annie, said. "Now be helpful and pick up Casey. I'm not letting him wake up again until I'm done."

Part of Raphael wanted to resist, he wanted to argue, but he couldn't. It was easier just to follow orders. He picked up Casey, hefted his friend over his shoulder, and followed the girl as she led the way to a shop five blocks from where they encountered her.

"Put him over there," she said as she entered the shop. She indicated an old leather roman style couch. "I'll figure out what to do with him later."

Raphael obeyed meekly still wondering why he was doing so. He didn't want to obey the girl, but he couldn't fight the strange spell she had placed on him. _Casey said she was magic. I think he wasn't kidding._

Unable to move unless told to, Raphael scanned as much of the room as he could see. There was no question about it the place was weird. There was an area to one side concealed by a deep red and gold trimmed curtain. Nearby was a clothing rack with various different sorts of costumes. Underneath the rack was a globe, and the head of some kind of antelope. The monkey had followed them back to the shop, and it was sitting on a shelf and watching the proceedings. The odd thing was that at the moment it looked more like a cat than a monkey. It still had hands and the tail still looked prehensile, but the face and body were definitely more feline than it had been before.

Once Casey was put aside on the couch the girl turned and looked Raphael up and down. "And now," she said, "There's only one way I know of to put protections on a person, and I know if I gave you a choice you'd tell me where to go, so..." She trailed off in thought then moved over to an area of the room with a grey slate floor. She drew a pentagram on the floor with white chalk. "Stand there please," She said. Again Raphael simply obeyed her. Once he was inside of the diagram she placed a necklace on the floor between them on the chalk lines on the floor. It was a simple gold chain, with a little gold turtle as a pendant.

"Now for a blade," she said. She looked around the odd artifacts in the room, but she didn't seem to find what she was looking for. Finally her eye came to rest on Raphael and his sai. "I guess that will do," she said. She reached over and plucked his right sai off of his belt. Now he wanted to be angry. He wanted to grab his weapon back, but he couldn't work up the energy to be upset by it. He tried to, but she noticed and traced the symbol on his forehead again, calming him down. "Easy friend. I'll give it right back. She brought the sai downstairs. Still frozen by whatever magic she possessed, Raphael could hear her singing below. After about ten minutes she came up. A brilliant blue aura surrounded his sai.

"Okay that's better," she said, more to herself than to him. She reached down and picked up the pendant keeping it between herself and him. She took her finger and pricked it gently with the tip of the sai. Grasping the turtle pendant in her good hand she allowed a few drops of her blood to fall onto the pendant. Then she took his hand, and repeated the steps with his fingers. When she was done she rubbed his wounded finger, and whispered something under her breath. To Raphael's surprise the cut healed up instantly. Then she wiped the sai on her robes and placed it back in his belt. "There," she said. "Now everything's ready. She placed the pendant around his neck, and then began chanting in a language he didn't understand.

_What is she doing?_ Raphael wondered. Suddenly the chalk drawing at his feet began to glow as did the slender golden chain around his neck. He could feel something being drawn around his body. It wasn't exactly restrictive, but it was enough that he could feel it. He looked down at his hands and saw bands of golden light encircle his wrists. A strange energy began to rush into him, as he felt part of himself flow out joining with that odd wave of energy.

Finally she finished. He still couldn't move, and he really didn't care too. He just watched her apathetically as she took the pendant from his neck and placed it around hers. Instantly he felt the power of the magic spell. She had control of him. Everything he was, everything he thought, everything he could do was now hers. Even under the calming spell fear began to well up in him.

"Don't be afraid," she said again. "I'm not going to make you do anything, Raphael. I'm just going to send you, and Casey on your way again. Pick him up and follow me."

Again Raphael found that all he could do was obey her. Under the spell of calm however, Raphael knew he was seething. Who was she that she could do this, and how was he going to get out of it? Was this the warning that Michelangelo had tried to give him?

She led him to the alley, and instructed Raphael to lay Casey gently on the ground. Once that task was done she looked at him directly and said, "I was afraid and ran away. Once I'm gone your free to do as you will, but you will not tell anyone what happened. Weather you remember or not is by your will, not mine, but you cannot tell anyone. I don't want your brothers banging down my door demanding I take my protections off of you. Do you understand?"

As much as it pained him inside to agree his mouth and voice worked against his will. "I understand," he said.

She sighed, and gave him a sad smile. If I ever get the dekabor to go back, I'll call you and take the spell off. I promise. Until then you'll have to live with it. Hopefully I'll see you soon." With that she ran back into the shop, but as Raphael reeled from the events his mind decided that he would be better off if he couldn't remember this."

Raphael blinked and shook his head. Why was he dizzy? He looked around. The Purple Dragons had ran off as usually. Unfortunately the girl they had been rescuing had run off too.

"Awww crud." Raphael said disgusted with the humans' attitude towards him and his brothers. He looked, behind him. Casey was unconscious on the ground.

"Casey!" Raphael called. He ran over to his friend and hefted him into a fireman carry. "Come on, pal. Time to get you home. Somehow he managed to get the taller heavier human conscious enough to wander down the alley. He was so occupied he didn't notice the monkey above him on the fire escape. It watched Raphael disappear into the shadows. Then wings appeared out of it's back and it flew back inside of a second floor window. The awning of the shop below the window said, "Miss Annie's Mysticisms and Magics"

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Coming Soon Chapter 4 Discovery:

"Don, check Casey out," Leonardo ordered. Donatello moved forward and checked Casey from head to toe.

"He's just a little banged up," Donatello announced. "He doesn't seem to have a head injury, but for some reason he can't wake up."

"It...it's those chords," Michelangelo said backing away from Casey. Leonardo turned to look at Michelangelo. He was shaking and there was something funny about the way he was staring down at their human friend. "The chords are holding him back. They wont let him wake up!"

Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo looked back down at Casey. They didn't see any chords at all. "Mikey, what are you talking about?" Donatello asked. "There aren't any chords."

"They're made of energy!" Michelangelo continued. "They're glowing and humming and stuff." Suddenly Michelangelo collapsed to his knees on the floor, and grabbed at both sides of his head. "My head! It feels like it's gonna explode!"

"Mikey!" Raphael and Donatello ran to Michelangelo's side but they were powerless to help him. He was in obvious pain, but there was no reason for it.

"Oh, no." Leonardo muttered He moved to join his brothers. He grabbed onto Michelangelo's shoulders and called to him. "Mikey! Mikey! Listen to me. Stop fighting it!"

Raphael and Donatello looked at Leonardo then glanced at each other. Both were confused. What did Leonardo mean? Whatever it was Michelangelo seemed to understand, because he shook his head and shouted, "No! I...I can't!"

"Mikey you have to!" Leonardo insisted. "You're hurting because your holding back on what your seeing. Let the vision go!"

"No," Michelangelo was still trying to fight whatever force held him tight. "This shouldn't be happening! I'm...I'm awake!"


	5. Chapter  4 Discovery

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Chapter 4 Discovery

"Hey Leo, do you know when Raph is coming back?"

Leonardo stopped in the middle of his sword dance, and looked back at Michelangelo who was in front of the video monolith. "He said he'd be back around midnight, why?" Before Michelangelo could turn around to face him, he went back to his exercise. Both he and Donatello were being very careful to be casual, but he had a feeling they weren't fooling Michelangelo at all.

"I dunno, I thought he said he'd be back for supper," Michelangelo said. Leonardo wondered at his tone. It sounded as if he was confused about something. Michelangelo still didn't know that Raphael had waited until dawn to leave.

Out of the corner of his eye, Leonardo saw Donatello put away the notebooks. That Donatello was working in his lab, was so common Michelangelo didn't even bother looking at what he was doing. "What, do you miss him or something?" Donatello teased.

"I'm just bored. It's too quiet with him away."

Leonardo and Donatello looked at each other. Mikey and Raph did clown around together a lot, but still usually when Raph was out of the lair they all could relax. When Raphael was in one of his moods, he could make the whole lair tense.

"It's just getting dark now," Donatello said with a mischievous gleam to his eyes. "We could go over to Casey's place and surprise them."

Leonardo wondered about that. It could get Raphael annoyed, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Donatello was doing this for a reason.

Michelangelo seized upon the idea. "You really think we should, Don?"

"Why not," Donatello definitely sounded mischievous all of a sudden. "It'll keep both of them on their toes for a while."

"Cool! Lets go!" Michelangelo was halfway to the door before Leonardo could sheath his katana.

Leonardo moved over to walk with Donatello. "What are you up to, Donny?" he whispered.

"Just playing a hunch, I'll explain later," Donatello whispered back.

Leonardo sighed pensively. He didn't like not being in the know, but he knew that Donatello was not going to come out and say what he was thinking, if it had something to do with Michelangelo.

The trip to Casey's was unnerving at least. It seemed that for every three blocks they traveled, they had to stop a purse snatching, a mugging, or just some idiot who was trying to beat up his girlfriend.

"Is it a full moon or something tonight?" Michelangelo finally asked after they stopped to take a breather. "It's like everybody is crazy or something. I've never seen it like this."

"I know," Leonardo said uneasily. "It's got me worried now. Let's find Raph and get back below as soon as we can."

Donatello nodded. "I agree."

"Casey's place is just ahead." Michelangelo said. "Lets go!"

They got to the apartment, and used the skylight to enter. The first thing they all noticed was that the apartment was empty.

"They're not here," Michelangelo said as he moved instantly to the refrigerator. He opened it and looked inside.

"Now I'm really worried," Donatello whispered to Leonardo.

"Me too," Leonardo whispered back. "But clue me in, Don, why did you suggest this?"

"You told me Mikey predicted your ambush, right?" Donatello said, keeping his eye on Michelangelo to make sure he didn't hear.

Leonardo nodded, "Yeah."

"So the day of the ambush, Mikey kept asking when you'd get back. At first it was pretty tame, but he wasn't satisfied until we decided to go after you. When he started asking about Raph I wondered if maybe Raph was in trouble. Somehow, like with you, he knows."

Leonardo blinked in "You mean this might be connected to his . . . you know?"

" I don't think he's aware he's doing it, but I wouldn't be surprised." Donatello answered.

Suddenly a noise put Leonardo on alert. "Guys, someone's coming."

Donatello and Michelangelo didn't need to be told what to do. Instantly they found hiding places within the apartment. From under Casey's couch Leonardo peered out only to find Raphael half carrying half dragging Casey into the apartment through the back window. Raphael hefted Casey into his recliner. Casey groaned and winced as he settled into the chair.

"Easy Case," Raphael said evenly. "You okay pal?"

"I ...Annie . . . " Casey muttered half conscious.

Leonardo rolled out from under the couch, and came forward startling Raphael. He drew his sai defensively. He lowered them once he saw that it was his brother. "Leo? What are you doing here?"

Donatello and Michelangelo came out of hiding as well. Leonardo ignored his brother's question. He wanted to explain it to Raphael, but not in front of Michelangelo. "What happened to you two?" He asked instead.

"Ran into some Purple Dragons coming down on this girl," Raphael answered. "We got rid of them, but she ran off too. I guess Casey got nailed pretty good."

"Don, check Casey out," Leonardo ordered. Donatello moved forward and checked Casey from head to toe.

"He's just a little banged up," Donatello announced. "He doesn't seem to have a head injury, but for some reason he can't wake up."

"It . . . it's those chords," Michelangelo said backing away from Casey. Leonardo turned to look at Michelangelo. He was shaking and there was something funny about the way he was staring down at their human friend. "The chords are holding him back. They wont' let him wake up!"

Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo looked back down at Casey. They didn't see any chords at all. "Mikey, what are you talking about?" Donatello asked. "There aren't any chords."

"They're made of energy!" Michelangelo continued. "They're glowing and humming and stuff." Suddenly Michelangelo collapsed to his knees on the floor, and grabbed at both sides of his head. "My head! It feels like it's gonna explode!"

"Mikey!" Raphael and Donatello ran to Michelangelo's side but they were powerless to help him. He was in obvious pain, but there was no reason for it.

"Oh, no." Leonardo muttered. He moved to join his brothers. He grabbed onto Michelangelo's shoulders and called to him. "Mikey! Mikey! Listen to me. Stop fighting it!"

Raphael and Donatello looked at Leonardo then glanced at each other. Both were confused. What did Leonardo mean? Whatever it was Michelangelo seemed to understand, because he shook his head and shouted, "No! I...I can't!"

"Mikey you have to!" Leonardo insisted. "You're hurting because your holding back on what your seeing. Let the vision go!"

"No," Michelangelo was still trying to fight whatever force held him tight. "This shouldn't be happening! I'm . . . I'm awake!"

"Mikey listen to what I'm telling you," Leonardo argued back, "We'll figure out what's wrong with you later, but you have to help us now. Tell us what happened to Casey. You have to tell us what your seeing!"

Raphael and Donatello watched helpless as Michelangelo grew still in Leonardo's arms. "Casey's not the problem," Michelangelo said in a very quiet voice. "Casey's safe from it, her servant is safe, it's the rest of us who aren't. It's out there looking for any it can devour. Nothing's safe, no one's safe, not until I send it back to where it belongs." He closed his eyes leaned against Leonardo and passed out.

Raphael kneeled next to Leonardo. "Leo, what was that all about? What happened to Mikey?"

"I'm not sure Raph," Leonardo said trying to keep his own voice from trembling. "I...I think he just had a nightmare while he was wide awake, but he was trying not to have it."

Donatello knelt down and felt Michelangelo's head. "That never worked when we were kids either, Neither did not sleeping. He just made himself sick."

"I think that's what happened now." Leonardo said. "We have to get him back below."

"What about Casey?" Raphael asked.

Leonardo thought about it. "Call April up and have her come down to keep an eye on him. When we get home, we'll talk to Master Splinter. Mikey said he saw some kind of energy band around Casey and that was keeping him asleep. Maybe he was talking about magic."

Donatello sighed and rolled his eyes. "Magic isn't real," he insisted.

Raphael growled at that. "And neither are ghosts and mermaids, right Braniac?" He countered.

That shut Donatello up quickly enough. It was true he'd been proven wrong before.

Leonardo stopped the argument before it could begin. "If it is some kind of magic, Master Splinter may be able to deal with it better than we can."

At that moment a groan caught their attention. It was Michelangelo waking up from his faint. "Ohhh what hit me?"

"Mikey?" Instantly his three brothers surrounded him. "Mikey you okay?" Raphael asked.

"I...I think so," With their help he managed to sit up, but he kept his eyes closed, and held onto his head. "It's just that I've got this splitting headache."

"I'll go raid Casey's medicine cabinet," Donatello offered. He got up and moved off to the back of the apartment.

"Do you remember what made you pass out?" Leonardo asked gently.

Michelangelo scrunched his face up in concentration. "I could hear myself talking, but I can't remember what I said. And I was seeing things that weren't there! It was like having a nightmare but not being asleep for it. I think I'd rather be asleep for the next one. At least then they don't' hurt as much."

"Here," Donatello said, dropping a pair of aspirin in Michelangelo's hand. "That will make you feel better."

"It might make my headache go away, Don," Michelangelo said as he swallowed the pills and accepted the glass of water from him. "But I doubt it will make me feel better." He looked at Leonardo pensively. "I was doing it again wasn't I, Leo. I'm predicting the future again." Michelangelo shivered slightly and hung his head sadly.

Leonardo sighed and put his hand on Michelangelo's shell. "We're starting to think so."

"I called April," Donatello said softly. "By the time Mikey's aspirin kick in we'll be able to go."

Sure enough within twenty minutes April was at Casey's front door. "What's up guys?"

"Leonardo sighed. "It's a long story, April. Look we're going to come back later to help Casey, but we need to see Master Splinter now, and I'd rather have everyone with me. Can you stay here until we get back?"

April looked at Leonardo oddly. Leonardo knew she wanted to ask questions, but he knew that the way he was talking to her would let her know he didn't have time to explain everything.

"You got it, Leo," April said, but with a hint of warning in her voice she continued, "But you _will_ tell me what's going on later."

Leonardo nodded, but he privately hoped it would be much later when he knew what was going on. He looked over at Raphael who was hovering worriedly over Casey, and Donatello who was trying to distract Michelangelo. "Guys, it's time to get Sensei."

One by one the four turtles filed out of the apartment. Raphael was the last. "Take care of Case, April," he asked then followed his brothers out.

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Coming soon Chapter 5 The enemy appears

Suddenly a scream and a sound make all four turtles start and lay a hand on their weapons. "Gunshots," Donatello said.

"We'd better check it out," Leonardo said. He didn't want to be distracted, but he couldn't stand by while innocent people were hurt. He led the way over the rooftops to where two groups were in the middle of a melee.

"What in the world?" Donatello asked.

Leonardo sighed heavily. "It looks like the City is back at war."

"I don't think that's it Leo," Raphael said sounding slightly confused. "What's that down there?"

"What's what?" Donatello asked.

"That orange blob thingie next to that guy with the mohawk," Raphael said pointing.

"I don't see anything," Leonardo answered.

At that same time Michelangelo shot back excited. "You mean you can see it too?"

"Wait," Donatello said. "You mean there really is something down there?"

"What does it look like?" Leonardo asked.

Michelangelo looked down into the alley way. "Like Raph said, it's like some kind of jello thing. It's all orange and green, and real icky looking." Suddenly Michelangelo backed up a pace, and started shaking. "And . . . and I remember! That's the thing that was gonna eat Raph!"


	6. Chapter 5 The Enemy Appears

That Which Prowls In The Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Authors Note: Okay Okay! I get the message! Leo couldn't have fit under Casey's couch. _Mea Culpa!_ I do read what you guys write but I want to post everything before I start making corrections.

And now...

Chapter 5 The enemy appears

Leonardo and the others tensed as they hid in the shadows. They could hear all around them the sound of an unsettled city. "Man, this is almost worse than before," Donatello said. "Why is everyone in New York acting crazy tonight?"

"You guys noticed too?" Raphael asked. "Casey said it's been like this for a couple of days."

Leonardo frowned as he glanced at Michelangelo, who was being unusually quiet. "There has to be some connection," he muttered to himself. "Something out there is causing this."

"Causing what?" Raphael asked.

"Everything," Leonardo said. Three pairs of eyes stared at him. Leonardo didn't blame them. Each one of his brothers had a piece of this puzzle, but he was the only one who understood that they were all connected.

Suddenly a scream and a sound make all four turtles start and lay a hand on their weapons. "Gunshots," Donatello said.

"We'd better check it out," Leonardo said. He didn't want to be distracted, but he couldn't stand by while innocent people were hurt. He led the way over the rooftops to where two groups were in the middle of a melee.

"What in the world?" Donatello asked.

Leonardo sighed heavily. "It looks like the City is back at war."

"I don't think that's it, Leo," Raphael said sounding slightly confused. "What's that down there?"

"What's what?" Donatello asked.

"That orange blob thingy next to that guy with the mohawk," Raphael said pointing.

"I don't see anything," Leonardo answered.

At that same time Michelangelo shot back excited. "You mean you can see it too?"

"Wait," Donatello said. "You mean there really is something down there?"

"What does it look like?" Leonardo asked.

Michelangelo looked down into the alley way. "Like Raph said, it's like some kind of jello thing. It's all orange and green, and real icky looking." Suddenly Michelangelo backed up a pace, and started shaking. "And . . . and I remember! That's the thing that was gonna eat Raph!"

All three reacted to that.

"Eat Raph?" Donatello asked.

"That thing?" Raphael said simultaneously.

"Oh, shell," Leonardo muttered under his breath. He then moved over to Michelangelo and shook him gently to get him to focus on them. "Mikey, are you saying that the thing you and Raph can see is what you dreamed about the other night?"

Michelangelo was nodding vigorously. "I remember! It ate him from the inside out then it turned into him, and he was gonna kill me!" Michelangelo was shaking so hard now that Raphael knelt down, and held him close.

"Easy Mikey. It didn't happen. I'm okay. I listened to you. I didn't go to Casey's until morning, and I made him come get me."

Michelangelo looked very confused at that. "It didn't happen? But I saw . . . "

"You stopped it," Leonardo insisted. "Sometimes when we listen to what you tell us what you predict doesn't come true. You can stop some of these things from happening."

Michelangelo was calming down. "I can?"

"You have!" Leonardo reminded him. "There were lots of times when we were kids when we avoided what you predicted, and if we knew better you would have probably stopped more disasters."

"Well you'd better hurry if you want to stop a disaster now," Donatello said as he watched at the roof's edge. "The guys down there are creaming each other."

Leonardo and the others joined Donatello back on the edge of the roof.

"No, we can't go down there." Michelangelo insisted. "What if what I predicted wasn't supposed to happen last night! What if it's gonna happen tonight?"

Leonardo and Donatello looked at each other, and Leonardo bit his lower lip. What if Mikey was right? What if letting Raphael go down there was going to make Michelangelo's prediction come true?

Leonardo glanced at Raphael who had his customary scowl on. "Don't even think it, Leo," he said. Before the others could stop him, he leaped over the edge of the roof, and entered the fray.

"No! Raph!" The three called out, but it did no good. Raphael was already in the melee. Leonardo let out an exasperated groan and muttered under his breath. "I swear sometimes I think he has a death wish!" To the others he ordered "Lets go!"

The three jumped down into the fray as well. Leonardo dodged someone with a hunting knife and used the flat of his katana to separate two other combatants. He glanced to his left and saw Donatello trying to keep a Purple Dragon from beating up another guy wearing Purple Dragon colors.

_What the shell?_

"Leo!" Donatello called out as he ducked under a blow, "Both groups are Purple Dragons. They're fighting their own!"

_They're fighting their own? That doesn't make any sense._ "Don, get over to either Mikey or Raph. Remember there's something down here that we can't see." _I wonder if that thing is the reason the Purple Dragons are fighting each other._

Suddenly another Purple dragon came up behind him and tried to knock him into the sidewalk. He got to his feet feeling his blood heat up with anger. How dare this guy try to nail him while his back was turned. How completely without honor. Well he was going to fix that. Suddenly furious at his opponent for no reason, Leonardo advanced on the thug ready to teach him a lesson he would never forget.

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Raphael loved being in the center of a fight. To him this was no different from any other melee he had participated in. Even so he knew that something was strange about this one. He gave a nervous glance over to the orange blob thing that seemed to be generating a sickly green luminescent fog that was seeping into the skin of the fighters. This wasn't right. That weird blob was doing something, and Raphael couldn't figure out what was going on.

"_I have to put protections on him," she said "If I don't the dekabor will keep coming after him." _

The dekabor? Where did that thought come from? Raphael wasn't sure. He felt as if he should know more about what was going on, but he couldn't put his finger on what was bugging him. The one thing he knew for sure was that he wasn't in danger of being eaten now. He could accept that last night was a possibility but somehow he knew that tonight he was safe. _Okay Raph get a grip on yourself. How could you know that so certainly?_ Raphael didn't know how he knew but he was sure of it. Something about this was wrong and he couldn't figure it out.

Still as he dodged and punched the thugs around he kept one eye on the strange orange entity. He didn't like it at all, and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was the reason that Michelangelo was freaking out lately and seeing things. As he split up a pair of combatants, he realized something strange. He knew these two guys. They were not only both Purple Dragons, but they were best friends. _What the shell is going on here?_

He picked up one of the pair who was still semi conscious. "What's going on?" Raphael demanded. "This is your best bud. Why are you pounding on him?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, freak!" The punk retorted, but his voice sounded wrong. Raphael had seen these two around a lot, and this guy's voice simply didn't sound like that.

"That's not an answer, punk," Raphael insisted hiding the chill that just ran down his shell. "You aint actin' normal tonight, and I want to know why!"

The punk in his hand chuckled slowly. "He freed me you know! I can do anything, and not care! It's soooo delicious. He can free you to you know."

_This guy has to be either high or drunk,_ Raphael thought as he held him against the wall. Yet there was something about the thug's expression that made Raphael ask, "what do you mean?"

"He can feel you," the punk said. "He can sense your anger, taste your aggression. He can free your mind, man." The punk's head lolled to one side as his eyes rolled up into his head in ecstasy.

"You're crazy," Raphael said, but even as he said it he could feel that thing come up behind him. He dropped the half-conscious human, and came face to face with something without a face at all.

_He is right,_ the thing said as it oozed around the floor coming closer and closer to Raphael. The thick green mist thickened around him and the creature

_I can free your mind, give you all the power you have ever dreamed of. I can shake you of this bond with the others of your kind and make you lord over them all. You need only give yourself over to my power._

Raphael shivered internally from a chill he never knew. Its voice was like an icy breeze penetrating his shell and thick reptilian skin. This was what Michelangelo had predicted the other night. This thing wanted something from him, and Raphael wasn't about to give anything to it, if he could help it.

"There is no way in shell I'm giving anything to you jello boy," Raphael answered it.

The creature growled angrily at Raphael _No, I will have you!_ It said. It tried to advance on Raphael, and touch him but suddenly it backed away as if some force had repelled it.

At that exact moment Michelangelo dove through the air, to come between Raphael and the orange blob. "No! Leave him alone!" Michelangelo shouted as he curled into a tumblesault and came back up on the balls of his feet. His nunchucks were out and spinning wildly. He tried to attack the creature, but it turned transparent and the nunchucks hit only empty air.

_Arrrgh_! The thing growled and backed away from Michelangelo. It tried to advance on Raphael again. Raphael swung at it with his left sai, but like the nunchucks nothing happened, until it touched him. Raphael tried to wince away, but the moment the orange blob came in contact with his arm, a blue light came between them and an electric crackle was heard in the air. Raphael found himself pushed away as if hurled by some magnetic force, but the orange being was flung a good four feet passing through a few people on the way down. It roared out in pain and agony.

_Curse you! Curse you turtle, and curse that child witch who holds your soul. How dare any of the white order come between me and my prey! She cannot keep you from me forever! The white ones always feel sorry for their servants! She will free you soon enough, and then your soul will be mine!_

Raphael didn't have a clue about what that thing was talking about, and all the better. That made his retort make even more sense. "You know I was wrong about you. You're not jello. You're a bag of hot air!"

That only made the thing scream louder causing both him and Michelangelo to wince. "Get away from him!" Michelangelo shouted trying to attack again.

The orange blob floated up out of Michelangelo's reach. _So be it. Let the white witch keep you. Savor your victory turtle, for If I cannot have you, I will take that which you cherish._ With that the orange glob disappeared into the ground with most of the sickly green smoke.

Raphael looked around confused for a second. The green smoke was still around at ankle depth, but there was no sign of orange. "Where'd it go?" Raphael asked.

"Away from you I guess," Michelangelo said rubbing a bruise on his shoulder. "Raph, how'd you do that? Make it back off like that?"

"I didn't do anything," Raphael said as he checked out his own injuries. "My sai had just about as much effect on it as your chucks did."

Michelangelo shook his head emphatically. "No I saw it. It touched you and all of a sudden you were like glowing blue and that blue light hurt it somehow! And what's with those things on your wrists?" Michelangelo pointed down to Raphael's wrists, but there was nothing there.

"Ahh you're seeing things again, Mikey." Raphael grumbled, but then a thought came to him. "Hey did you hear that thing talk in words?"

"Kinda," Michelangelo agreed. "Who's the white witch?"

"I don't know," Raphael answered, but as the last words the creature said came to his thoughts he felt there was something he was missing. "He said that if he couldn't have me, he'd . . . " Suddenly the same horrifying thought came to both him and Michelangelo. "We'd better go find the others!"

They didn't have to look very far. Ten yards away Leonardo and Donatello were battling twenty more of those street thugs. The sour green smoke that had practically faded from their area was thick around the fighters, and the two turtles. Raphael drew his sai and would have joined in the battle, but Michelangelo pulled him back. "No wait, Raph, look."

Raphael watched amazed as the green smoke was being absorbed by the bodies of the fighters and their two brothers. He watched as both Leonardo and Donatello soon got that half mad look in their eyes, and their moves became more and more vicious.

"Aww shell! That stuff is makin' them crazy!" Raphael said. "Mikey we gotta get them out of that!"

"It's worse than that, Raph," Michelangelo said pointing behind Leonardo. "It's back!"

Sure enough the orange creature was starting to rematerialize hovering over Leonardo. Tiny orange pseudopods began to form on the surface of the creature heading right for Leonardo.

"Leo!" Raphael cried out and let instinct and training take over. Before he had a chance to take a breath in both his sais were out and he was slashing at the thing severing the tendrils before they could touch Leonardo. When he landed on the ground, he was shocked to see a strange green substance on his right sai.

The thing roared in anger and pain. Raphael turned back over his shoulder to see that he had actually hurt the thing. It had changed back into a floating blob. _Curse you and curse she who holds you!_ It hovered above Raphael for a second and then vanished into thin air.

Raphael had never known real fear until that moment. He didn't know what that thing was, but he knew what he had seen. It could control people, and it almost had Leonardo and Donatello.

_What the shell are we going to do?_ Raphael looked over at Donatello who was being supported by Michelangelo.

"Don, you okay bro?" Michelangelo asked earnestly.

"What? What happened?" Donatello asked sounding distant and confused. "I was so angry."

Raphael moved over to Leonardo's side. Leonardo was staring at his katana shaking his head. "I...I could have killed that guy. I wanted to!"

"It wasn't you, Leo," Raphael said evenly. "It was that over sized jello mold with the attitude that was playing with your head."

"But still . . . " Leonardo said, and shuddered visibly.

"Raph, lets get below now!" Michelangelo said distressed.

Raphael and Leonardo looked at each other and nodded. Master Splinter would know what to do. As soon as Leonard and Donatello had fully recovered, they made their way into the sewers and towards home.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Coming Soon

Chapter 6 Questions

Leonardo watched Michelangelo as he went up the stairs. Once he was certain his brother couldn't hear them he turned back to Splinter and Donatello. "Which problem is more important right now? Mikey or Raph?"

Donatello shrugged and looked upstairs as well. "Wanna flip a coin?"

Splinter sighed. "Michelangelo's abilities are distressing, but we may need them. They may have returned because of this strange being that is causing trouble."

Leonardo didn't like that idea. "But that would mean that this thing is far more dangerous than we think." Splinter nodded gravely.

"Why?" Donatello asked.

"Because Don, since Mikey's ability's come back he's only predicted one or two things, but they've always been major. Now He's had a nightmare while he's wide awake. I can't shake the feeling that whatever we've stumbled into this time it's way over our heads." Leonardo looked sadly over to their sensei. "So what do we do?"


	7. Chapter 6 Questions

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night:

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Chapter 6 Questions

"This news is most disturbing," Master Splinter said as he finished listening to the tale his sons brought him. "It seems that this creature can control minds, and bring others to violence."

Leonardo accepted the bowl of soup from Splinter and sighed. "Well it explains why everything in the city has been crazy the last few days. This thing has been loose and for some reason it likes to make people violent."

"Which may be why Mikey originally predicted the thing going after Raph," Donatello pointed out.

Raphael sipped at his soup, and shook his head. "It did come after me first, Don. I don't know why, but it couldn't touch me. It was so pissed about it, it went after you and Leo."

"That still doesn't make sense to me," Leonardo said, allowing the heat of the cup to warm him. "You told me that Mikey predicted that it was going to eat you. He's not usually that far off."

"Unless it means something we don't understand," Donatello mused.

Michelangelo was sitting slightly away from the others. A look of worry on his face. The others didn't blame him. His ability to predict the future was back, and like before it wasn't under his control.

Raphael finished his soup and, laid the cup at his feet. "I think that if I had gone out the first night it would have gotten me."

"So what changed between last night and tonight?" Leonardo asked. Without meaning to he glanced over at Michelangelo.

"I don't know," Michelangelo said defensively. "I didn't even remember that dream until I saw that thing out there, and like Raph said, it did go after him first, but when it touched him it got hurt.

"I've got a better question," Donatello asked, giving Michelangelo a sympathetic glance. "Why were Mikey and Raph the only one's to see it?"

"It may be that Michelangelo's gift to see the future, allows him to see this creature." Splinter said thoughtfully.

"Maybe not," Michelangelo said sullenly. "Raph could see it too, and he doesn't have any wacked out gifts." He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.

Leonardo and Donatello shared a look. They knew that wasn't necessarily true, Raphael did have one or two abilities himself, but like Michelangelo he refused to use them. Even so Michelangelo would never mention them in front of Splinter. None of them would. By unspoken agreement none of them, not even Leonardo, would mention the encounter they had with the spirit of Hamato Yoshi. None of them wanted to upset Splinter. Raphael had heard the ghost with no mental preparation, and was able to speak with him. Leonardo had spoken with the spirit too, but only in dreams, and that wasn't his doing. It was this encounter that got him interested in trying to connect to the spirit world himself. He had some small successes recently, but to him it seemed that he was working very hard to do what came instinctively for both Raphael and Michelangelo.

Leonardo took another glance at Michelangelo. His brother had his back up against the wall and in his voice Leonardo heard an all familiar attitude. Michelangelo had never liked his ability to see into the future. To him it was more of a curse than a gift. He had tried to keep the visions at bay by not sleeping, but it never worked. Eventually he'd collapse from exhaustion. Leonardo decided that maybe later he could ask Raphael in private what he thought, but for now he went with the rule. Don't let Splinter know they had seen a ghost.

"Mikey's right," Leonardo said evenly. "Raph's never done anything remotely psychic. Why could he see the thing, and me and Don couldn't?"

All eyes were on Raphael who shrugged and threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "How am I supposed to know?"

"And you hurt it too, Raph," Michelangelo said. When you went after Leo, you cut it with your sai."

"Only this one, Mikey," Raphael reminded him holding up his right sai. "The other one couldn't touch it. In fact we couldn't really touch it at all, and it couldn't really touch us. It could get it's poison into people but it never really touched them. It was almost like it was only partly here."

"I wonder," Donatello said, almost half to himself. "Only one of your sai could hurt the thing, you and Mikey were the only one's to see it, and your convinced that Mickey's premonition was accurate for yesterday, but not today. That means something happened to you between Mikey's first prediction and tonight So what happened?"

Raphael rose from his seat on the floor, and began pacing the room. "I keep telling you Don, nothing happened. Me and Case talked a bit at his place, and then we decided to come back here."

"How did Casey get knocked out?" Leonardo asked. He tried to keep his voice neutral. Raphael was on the verge of a blow up. He was glaring at Donatello as he answered. That was usually the first warning sign that they were getting too close to Raphael's temper.

"I told you," Raphael said, his voice growing harsher. "We ran into The Purple Dragons."

Raphael's voice was the second warning sign, but Donatello never noticed the changes. "So why couldn't we wake him up?" Donatello asked still pushing the issue. "Why did Mikey tell us that Casey was bound by bands of magical energy?"

"I don't know!" Raphael shouted at them, finally blowing up. "We're just talking this thing in circles." With a growl of frustration he stormed out of the room heading for his bedroom.

Leonardo got to his feet. "Raph! Come back!" He called.

Splinter sighed heavily. "No, Leonardo," he said sadly. "Let him go."

"But Raphael knows something, Master Splinter," Donatello said.

Splinter nodded. "I believe you are correct, Donatello, but your brother is unwilling, or unable to tell us what it is."

Leonardo turned and faced his sensei. "You mean he might be under a spell? Like Casey?"

"If Mr Jones is indeed under a magical spell to keep him asleep, it is possible that Raphael had magic cast upon him as well. Some of the things he has told us may indicated a change within him."

"That may be why he could see that thing," Leonardo said nodding to himself.

"And why he can't tell us what happened to Casey," Donatello added.

"Unfortunately," Splinter reminded them. "There is no way for me to tell if his resistance is due to magic unless he allows me to examine him." Then for no reason at all he looked over at Michelangelo who was being unnaturally quiet.

"Why are you all looking at me for?" Michelangelo said uneasily.

"You saw magical bands on Casey," Leonardo reminded him. "If you saw that magic, it stands to reason you would see something different about Raph if he's under a spell."

Michelangelo tried to back away from Leonardo. "Well maybe I didn't see magic at all. Maybe I was just seeing things, or I had some bad pizza, or maybe I'm losing my mind!" He turned to make his escape, but Donatello and Splinter were right there to stop him.

"Michelangelo please!" Splinter said tenderly yet with conviction. "I understand your dislike for your gift, but this is extremely important. If you had not forewarned Raphael this creature may very well have consumed him."

"Gift?" Michelangelo sighed and looked to the sky. "With all due respect sensei, this isn't a gift, it's more like a curse! It's like being stuck in a horror movie but there's no way out, and it's not happening to some dude on a screen. It's happening to you guys. Why is this coming back? I thought I got rid of it somehow."

"Easy Mikey," Donatello said placing a gentle hand on his shell. "We'll figure that out, but right now we need your ability to see. You saw something when Raph was blowing his temper at us, and don't deny it. I saw the way you were looking at him."

"Michelangelo, sighed but didn't argue further. With his head bowed he said, "I'm...I'm not sure if I saw anything, but when Raph was yelling and stuff I could have sworn I saw a pair of gold bands around his wrists."

"Gold bands?" Leonardo asked puzzled.

Michelangelo nodded vigorously. "I saw them during the fight too they were clearer then, but I only saw them out of the corner of my eye. Any time I looked at them directly they kinda faded away."

"So maybe, maybe not," Leonardo said. Michelangelo shrugged." "Anything else you can tell us? right now almost anything will help us. "

"I dunno," Michelangelo said with a yawn. He began to rub on his forward absently. "This is starting to give me a headache."

"Then you should rest, my son," Splinter said gently. "Go off to bed, we can talk in the morning."

Michelangelo looked uncertain at first, but Leonardo nodded and gestured to the upstairs. "Go ahead Mikey. Go to bed. I'll let you know if we find out anything."

Michelangelo sighed torn between being relieved and feeling guilty. He went slowly up the stairs to his own room. He kicked his basket ball and his skateboard out of the way. He flopped down on the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. He remembered back when they were little kids. Splinter had told him his ability to see the future was a great gift, and if he wanted to he could learn to control it. He didn't want to control it. He wanted to get rid of it, and now it was getting worse. He never saw things like monsters or magical bands before, and he had never had a nightmare while he was wide awake. What was wrong with him?

_I can't even try not sleeping now because I'll just have the visions when I'm wide awake. What the shell am I going to do? _A second later he wondered if he wasn't just being selfish. Raphael was a bigger problem. Something had changed him. Even Raphael knew it. He just didn't understand what it was.

_We need your ability to see,_ Donatello had said. He didn't want to see in the first place and now they're telling him they needed him to. He knew they were right. He needed to see for them to help Raphael but he really wished he didn't have too.

_I really wish I could help without having to have nightmares for them. Sensei is wrong. I can't control this. If I could I'd be able to find out what was wrong with Raph._ Still pondering his and his brother's problem, Michelangelo drifted off to sleep.

Leonardo watched Michelangelo as he went up the stairs. Once he was certain his brother couldn't hear them he turned back to Splinter and Donatello. "Which problem is more important right now? Mikey or Raph?"

Donatello shrugged and looked upstairs as well. "Wanna flip a coin?"

Splinter sighed. "Michelangelo's abilities are distressing, but we may need them. They may have returned because of this strange being that is causing trouble."

Leonardo didn't like that idea. "But that would mean that this thing is far more dangerous than we think." Splinter nodded gravely.

"Why?" Donatello asked.

"Because Don, since Mikey's ability's come back he's only predicted one or two things, but they've always been major. Now He's had a nightmare while he's wide awake. I can't shake the feeling that whatever we've stumbled into this time it's way over our heads." Leonardo looked sadly over to their sensei. "So what do we do?"

Splinter stood quiet in thought for a moment then said, "Donatello, tell April to stay at Mr Jones' home until dawn. I shall tend to him then, and tell her why as well. She must not go anywhere after dark by herself." Donatello nodded and went off to make the call. Once Donatello was gone, Splinter turned to Leonardo. "Michelangelo needs to be watched while he sleeps. He may have more dreams to guide us. You and Donatello should take turns at this. I will meditate on this delema, but Michelangelo may find an answer before I do."

Leonardo nodded. "Yes Sensei." As Splinter moved off into his own chambers Leonardo went over to where Donatello was already on the phone, and said, "Master Splinter wants us to keep a dream watch on Mikey. Come up after your done talking to April. Mikey usually has his dreams late in the night. I want to be awake and with him then."

Donatello nodded as he spoke to April on the phone. Leonardo moved to the stairs and went into Michelangelo's room. Michelangelo was already sound asleep, but his normally sunny expression had been replaced by a stress laden frown. Was he dreaming already?

"It's all right, Mikey," Leonardo said in a voice barely above a whisper. "We're here for you." With that he sat down next to Michelangelo's bed and waited for Donatello.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Coming soon Chapter 7 Perchance to Dream

"Raph!" Michelangelo cried out. Movement on the first floor caught his attention. He saw Master Splinter at the door to his privet chamber. Splinter had heard Michelangelo. "Master Splinter, did you see? It pulled him right through the wall!" He cried out to his sensei.

Splinter looked up at Michelangelo, and to Michelangelo's complete and utter shock _floated_ up to Michelangelo's side. Michelangelo didn't know what to say.

"How...how did you do that, sensei?" Michelangelo finally managed to sputter out.

Splinter still hovering two inches above the floor, grabbed onto Michelangelo's arm. That felt solid enough. "There is no time," he said, "We must move quickly if we are to discover where your brother is being taken too." With that Splinter pulled Michelangelo into the air.

"We're...we're flying?" Michelangelo wasn't sure what to think,. He only had a few seconds to register that they were flying through the lair, when he saw that Splinter was flying them towards the same wall Raphael had passed through. Splinter showed no signs of slowing down.

"Uh Master Splinter, we're gonna hit the wall!" Michelangelo's voice became faster and higher pitched as they advanced on the solid red brick barrier. Michelangelo threw his free arm up to protect his face, and shut his eyes to brace himself.

Nothing happened.


	8. Chapter 7 Perchanse to Dream

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night:

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Chapter 7 Perchance to dream

Michelangelo woke, hearing an unfamiliar voice in the lair. He opened his eyes, held perfectly still, and listened intensely in the darkness to the strange voice.

"Raphael, Raphael, come to me."

It was a woman's voice, but Michelangelo knew that it wasn't April. Curious, he got slowly out of his bed, and made his way to the doorway.

Peaking out, Michelangelo saw the lair awash with colored lights. There was no source to these lights. They simply existed, layers of red, waves of blue, bursts of green and violet, and swirls of yellow and orange. It was like living in one of the rainbow ices that he got at the pizzeria on Delaney street.

"Whoa!" Michelangelo said. "I think I just stepped into The Twilight Zone!" Was he dreaming again? This didn't feel like a dream. It felt as if it was real. Usually his premonitions felt real, but this was too real. _And if this is some kind of premonition it is way up there on the weirdness scale._

"Raphael, come to me," the strange female called again. Just like those swirling eddies of light around the lair, the voice didn't appear to have a source.

Suddenly a strong wind began to form inside of the lair. Michelangelo could hear it howl and see miniature tornadoes form around the lair, but they affected nothing. No papers were being blown about. The curtains to Master Splinter's room were undisturbed. Even the swirls of color ignored the howling wind. As Michelangelo tired to make sense of what he was seeing, he saw the tornadoes fly into Raphael's room, and drag Raphael kicking and screaming out.

"No! Leave me alone! Let go of me!" Raphael was screaming, but to no avail. The golden bands around Raphael's wrists were clearly visible. They were attached to the tornadoes, and were pulling Raphael away.

_I thought I just imagined those gold bands before. What the shell is going on? Am I dreaming or what?_ It all felt very real, but at the same time very surreal. How could a tornado drag Raphael from the room, and leave everything else in the lair intact?

_Better question_, Michelangelo thought as he watched amazed, _how can they pull Raph_ THROUGH A WALL?

"Let me go!" Raphael cried angrily as the winds and threads pulled him right through the walls of the lair.

"Raph!" Michelangelo cried out. Movement on the first floor caught his attention. He saw Master Splinter at the door to his privet chamber. Splinter had heard Michelangelo. "Master Splinter, did you see? It pulled him right through the wall!" He cried out to his sensei.

Splinter looked up at Michelangelo, and to Michelangelo's complete and utter shock _floated_ up to Michelangelo's side. Michelangelo didn't know what to say.

"How...how did you do that, sensei?" Michelangelo finally managed to sputter out.

Splinter, still hovering two inches above the floor, grabbed onto Michelangelo's arm. That felt solid enough. "There is no time," he said, "We must move quickly if we are to discover where your brother is being taken too." With that Splinter pulled Michelangelo into the air.

"We're...we're flying?" Michelangelo wasn't sure what to think,. He only had a few seconds to register that they were flying through the lair, when he saw that Splinter was flying them towards the same wall Raphael had passed through. Splinter showed no signs of slowing down.

"Uh Master Splinter, we're gonna hit the wall!" Michelangelo's voice became faster and higher pitched as they advanced on the solid red brick barrier. Michelangelo threw his free arm up to protect his face, and shut his eyes to brace himself.

Nothing happened.

Something should have happened by now. They should have hit the wall rather messily, but they hadn't. Uncertain at what he might see, Michelangelo opened his eyes.

To his surprise, he found himself floating high above the city streets with Splinter, unperturbed, at his side. Ahead of them he could see and hear Raphael still being dragged away

"Master Splinter, what is going on? How are we doing this?"

Splinter glanced ahead, checking Raphael's progress, and then answered Michelangelo. "You believe this to be a dream, my son?"

"Am I dreaming sensei? I mean everything seems real, but If it was real we wouldn't be flying or going through walls."

"This is as much real as it is a dream, Michelangelo," Splinter explained. "With training one's spirit can fly free as a ghost. It may seem as a dream to you, Michelangelo, but this is very real." Then curious, and concerned, Splinter asked, "You did not will this? How then did you set your spirit free?"

"I don't know anything about that, sensei. I was sleeping, and I was worried about Raph. Then I heard that weird voice calling for him. That's when I got out of bed, or at least I thought I did."

"Your dreams before have shown you beyond what is now. Perhaps they now can take you beyond where you are."

Michelangelo didn't understand a word of what Splinter was saying. "I still don't understand, Master Splinter. Is this a dream, or is it real?"

Splinter sighed exasperated "You are dreaming Michelangelo, but in this dream are things that are real. Be wary of things that seem real to you. If you can touch it, it can touch and possible hurt you. Things that you cannot touch, you cannot effect nor can it effect you. If you feel you are in danger, close your eyes, and wish as hard as you can to be home."

Michelangelo still wasn't sure he understood everything, but he did know that even if he didn't understand Splinter's advice now he would when he needed to.

Movement to his left distracted Michelangelo. "Master Splinter look! It's pulling Raph down there!"

Splinter nodded. "Come," With a gentle tug on his arm, Splinter pulled Michelangelo with him down to the street. As they neared the rooftops they saw Raphael being pulled through the roof of a small out of the way shop between a darkened street and an even darker alley. The building gleamed an electric blue. Splinter and Michelangelo landed softly in the alley and both stared at the building.

"We must be very cautious," Splinter instructed Michelangelo. "The force who has taken Raphael's spirit knew how to take one against his will. They may be aware of other magics."

"Is that why the store is glowing?" Michelangelo asked as he looked up shielding his eyes as he did so."

Splinter turned to Michelangelo sharply. "The building glows to your eyes?" Splinter asked astonished.

"Is it like not supposed to?" Michelangelo answered. Splinter nodded for Michelangelo to continue. "Well, to me, the while place is like glowing blue." He turned back to his mentor. "I'm guessing that means something, like those bands on Raph's wrists."

"There is magic on this place," Splinter explained. We dare not touch the light less it will betray us to our adversary." Splinter shook his head sadly. "Nor can we pass through the walls to retrieve Raphael."

Michelangelo frowned then kicked the lock of the basement gate he was standing on. His foot passed through the lock of course, but it made him feel better.

Wait a minute! He was standing on the basement gate to this very building. There was no glowing blue light here.

"Hey sensei, look! It's not glowing blue here!" Michelangelo said. "Maybe we can get in this way, past the magic."

"You see nothing?" Splinter asked. Michelangelo shook his head no.

"Not a thing. I don't know what I should be seeing anyway, but this basement grate looks normal to me."

Splinter thought about it. "It is risky, but to find Raphael...Yes let us try. Michelangelo, the trick to being as a ghost in this dream reality is to remember that as nothing but spirit, you have no substance. If you wish to pass through solid matter you may." With that Splinter floated up, then down through the basement grate, and disappeared.

Michelangelo stared blankly at the grate for a few seconds. Finally he took a deep breath, and said to himself. "Okay Mikey, you can do this. If Master Splinter says I can pass through solid walls I can." The fact of the matter was that he had already passed through the walls of the lair, so it wasn't too hard to believe that it was possible.

With another deep breath Michelangelo looked down at the grate, thought to himself one more time that Master Splinter knew what he was talking about, and jumped down onto the basement grate.

Sure enough his feet and legs easily passed through the metal grate, and allowed him into the basement. "Cool!" Michelangelo said, pleased with himself. Without hesitating further Michelangelo moved down the steps.

In the basement Splinter was waiting for him. He looked rather pleased. "Well done, Michelangelo."

Michelangelo sighed as worried as his sensei was about Raphael, he was making this a lesson for him. He nodded in acknowledgment of the rare compliment, and said, "so where are we?" He looked around the basement. It was a little dark, but years of living in the sewers had accustomed his eyes to darkness, and he had no trouble seeing. A strange stone table was placed at the back of the room decorated with gold and white cloths bowls of incense, candles, and a curly type of dagger.

"This is an alter of some kind," Splinter said thoughtfully. "I believe the owner of this place is your white witch."

Noting that, Michelangelo looked around again. On the far side of the room was another table. It was wood round and unadorned. On shelves above them were bottles and jars containing various items. There was also a human skull and a stuffed falcon on the shelves.

"This is a seriously creepy place," Michelangelo observed.

"Hush," Splinter had perked his ears and was listening intently. "I hear Raphael," Splinter pointed to a stair case next to them. "Up there, but take care Michelangelo."

Michelangelo nodded to reassure his sensei. Slowly and silently he moved in the direction Splinter had indicated. He came to a set at steps leading upwards into the shop and sure enough he could hear Raphael complaining.

"You can't keep me here forever! Le me go! Let me- Uhn!"

"Stop it," a stern but youthful female voice ordered. Michelangelo recognized it as the same voice that had drawn Raphael from the lair.

Michelangelo climbed the stairs poking his head through of the basement door so he could see. The walls of the room were still glowing a bright blue. Just like the walls had outside of the building. All around him were tables and shelves adorn with statues and stuffed animals. On a round table to his left was a massive rose quartz crystal sphere the size of a bowling ball. It hummed with power, and Michelangelo felt strangely drawn to it, but he heard Raphael's voice again and that snapped him back to what he was supposed to be doing.

He looked around until he saw Raphael. He seemed to be floating in a cage of bright blue and gold lights that radiated from a pentacle drawn in chalk on the slate floor.

Before Raphael stood a young human girl. She looked no older than nineteen with rich black hair. She was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans over which she wore a robe of undyed linen. Around her neck she had a rose quartz pentacle and a small gold turtle on a chain, that pulsed and hummed with a glowing red radiance.

"I can't let you go," the girl was telling Raphael sadly. "If I did that thing you saw would be after you in a heartbeat. And if it got you, your brothers would be next on it's hit list."

"You could have told me that before!" Raphael insisted. "You didn't have to make me your slave!

_Slave? What the shell is Raph talking about?_ Michelangelo wondered. _And why does her voice sound so familiar? _

"Unfortunately I did," She shot back. "I didn't know of any other spells that would protect you. I had to bind your spirit to mine so my defenses would be inside of you as well. It's not my fault that I'm only half trained."

Raphael glared at her. "What about the rest?" He asked.

The girl sighed. "If I hadn't bound your body you would have fought me. I think you still would, and as for your mind," she paused and looked at him directly. "If I had freed your mind after the spell was set you would have told your brothers."

"Yeah, so what?" Raphael answered sourly.

The girl frowned. "And they would come here, and try to force me to free you whether it was safe or not."

"Damn straight," Raphael growled back.

"The girl ignored Raphael's bad mood. "Therefore it is in your best interest for me to keep the spell on your mind intact. Your own mind knows this. That's why you couldn't remember. You did that to yourself because what you don't know, you can't betray."

Raphael roared in frustration and pounded on the walls of his magical prison. "You can't keep me your slave forever!"

"You are not my slave," she insisted. "I won't ask you to do anything. I'm just not going to allow you to jeopardize yourself or the others on account of your pride. The only reason I brought you here tonight is to answer the questions you have now."

That set Raphael aback. He paused, blinked, and looked at the girl questioningly. "You brought me here to answer my questions?"

She nodded. "I'm sure you have questions by now. If you want I'll answer them."

Raphael studied the girl carefully. "What's the catch?" He asked.

The girl smiled and shook her head no. "No catch Raphael. You ask, I answer, I send you home."

Raphael pondered this for a few seconds. Finally he asked, "that thing that Mikey and I saw that's what your protecting me from. "

The girl nodded "It's called a Dekabor. It's a kind of demon from another dimension. It lives off dark emotions, pain, fear, despair, and anger."

"Lemme guess," Raphael said with a pensive sigh. "A bad attitude is like a steak dinner with all the trimmings."

"Not quite," she answered with a grin. "It's more like you're the appetizer for the gourmet meal."

That actually sparked Raphael's curiosity. How come?

Because anger is such a strong emotion the Dekabor can suck everything out of you, including your soul. Then it takes over the body, and goes after your family, causing pain, fear, and despair."

"In everybody I ever cared about," Raphael said with a shudder. "You weren't just protect me, you were protecting all four of us. Wait, what about Casey. Why didn't you put your whammy on him?"

The girl gave a sly smile. "Casey has protections on him. I don't think he knows it though. It keeps dark forces and dark spirits away from him. Lucky for me it doesn't block white magic."

Raphael sighed and shook his head amused despite himself. "Leave it to Casey to have protections against evil spirits." He paused in thought , and then drew the illusionary sai from his belt. "What about my sai. You did something to this one. It could hurt him."

"To bind you to me, I needed a purified blade. The emotional attachment you have to your knives made the binding stick all the more."

"They're called sai," Raphael said sharply sheathing the blade again."

The girl shrugged. " It really didn't matter to me. It's a good blade, and it took the spell well."

Raphael didn't appear mollified, but he still wanted answers. "So I can kill that thing now, right?"

"You can hurt it," she said sadly," but you can't kill a spirit. I have to find a way to drive it back into it's own dimension."

"I suppose you want me to help you with that, right?" Raphael asked. He folded his arms over his chest in a classic stubborn pose.

"No," the young witch surprised both Raphael and the hidden Michelangelo with her answer. "I told you I wouldn't ask you to do anything for me, and I meant it. Of course if you want the spell on you off as soon as possible it would make sense to help me. As soon as the Dekabor is gone I can take my spells off of you, but helping me will be your choice. I won't force you to help."

"Humph," Raphael glowered at her. "I don't recall asking for your help."

A grey brown creature that looked like a cross between a cat, a monkey, and a bat, scampered by on a shelf of jars. It looked definitely feline, but Michelangelo could see that it's hands and feet could easily grip things for climbing, and grasping. It also had a pair of wings attached to it's back.

The girl's voice drew Michelangelo's attention back to the conversation. "I didn't do it for you. I did it because my cousin would be devastated if anything happened to the four of you."

"Your cousin?" Raphael asked puzzled. "Who? April? Casey?"

"I'd rather not say," the girl answered. "She doesn't know I know about you guys. She didn't tell me. I scryed and saw you in my crystal with her."

"You mean even your own family isn't safe from you and your hocus pocus," Raphael said annoyed.

"She would understand! You could be a little more understanding you know." She shot back at Raphael.

So far Michelangelo had only seen the girl in profile. He wondered if he should sneak around the shop and get a good look at her face. He began to finish his climb up the basement steps and entered the room, but suddenly the furry winged cat thing hissed and looked in his direction. Michelangelo jumped into the shadows and held absolutely still.

When the creature hissed the witch instantly became on alert. Raphael noticed her worry. "What is it?"

"I think Samantha saw something," the girl said. When Raphael gave her a curious glance she added, "My familiar."

"Oh, the Wizard of Oz reject," Raphael answered. He glanced at the creature for a second then followed her gaze."

Oh man! Michelangelo knew that he could hide from the witch, but he was always dubbed 'the turtle most often it during hide-and-seek, and Raphael was the turtle most often finding him. Michelangelo took in a breath to make sure he didn't move, but the very act of inhaling, betrayed him.

"There's something in the shadows over there," Raphael's voice dropped to a whisper. "I saw it move."

Raph! You're not supposed to help her find me! Michelangelo thought desperately.

The cat-like creature jumped over to the witch's shoulder, clinging to her with the creature's monkey like hands. "Samantha go hunting," She instructed her pet. The hands clinging to the girl began to extend large cat like claws, as it dropped from her shoulder, folded up it's wings, and padded like a tiger into the shadows growing as it did so.

What do I do? What do I do? Michelangelo's mind raced as he tried to decide on a course of action This was not what he was good at. Leonardo and Donatello knew strategy. He just went along with it. Raphael of course, would just fight.

Maybe that was the answer. Strike hard and fast, and escape. He reached for his nunchucks at his belt, but found nothing.

Man, I've gotta work harder at this dreaming reality thing, he thought as he considered new options. The witch's familiar was drawing closer and it was growing to the size of a tiger.

Michelangelo didn't want to hurt the creature. The witch actually in her own way was being nice to Raphael. He just wanted to delay it long enough to get away. Fortunately Master Splinter had taught them how to slow down an opponent in addition to incapacitating them.

As the creature advanced on him Michelangelo dropped to the ground and attempted to kick the legs of the creature out from under it. Unfortunately his transparent legs passed right through it.

_What the shell?_ At first confused Michelangelo realized that as a spirit he had no substance. He couldn't touch the creature.

The creature glared at him. A growl rumbled in it's throat, and suddenly it became transparent.

_Uh oh! Can that thing touch me now?_ Before Michelangelo could think about it the creature bounded forward and in a single blow belted Michelangelo across the room. He passed through chairs and tables effortlessly but came to land a few feet away from Raphael.

"Mikey?" Raphael asked confused. "What the shell?"

_Ow!_ A hot streak of pain was the first thing Michelangelo noticed. He wasn't hurt by the fall, but on his shoulder were three red streaks of blood. _I can bleed in this dream?_ He didn't take the time to think about this though. He was busy trying to avoid a second blow.

"Annie!" Raphael said using the witch's name for the first time. "If your flying whats-it hurts my bro-"

Michelangelo didn't hear the end of the sentence. He ran down to the basement, but the creature leaped over his head through the floor and blocked his escape at the bottom of the stairs.

"Michelangelo!" Splinter called out.

"Sensei, get out of here! I'll keep it busy!" Michelangelo said as he ran back up the stairs. And into the back of the store with the creature hot on his heels.

In a last ditch effort Michelangelo ran for a wall hoping that he could just pass through it, and escape. That hope proved to be futile as he found out that the glowing blue walls of this store repelled him.

"Aww shell!" Michelangelo exclaimed. He had his shell up against the wall, cornered by this strange transparent creature. He didn't know where Splinter was, and he didn't know the rules of this dream reality.

Suddenly something Splinter had said earlier flashed through his mind. _If you feel you are in danger, close your eyes and wish as hard as you can to be home._

Instantly Michelangelo snapped his eyes shut. "I wish I was home," he repeated over and over again.

"I wish I was home."

"I wish I was home."

"Mikey?"

"I wish I was home."

"Michelangelo,"

"I wish I was-"

"Mikey, wake up."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Coming Soon Chapter 8 Explanations

"Leo?" It took Michelangelo a few seconds to reorientate himself. He was in his bed. He was home.

"You were having another nightmare, I think," Leonardo said calmly. "Are you all right?"

Michelangelo had a nagging headache at his temples, but he focused through the pain. "Yeah, Leo, but Raph! Leo, some witch or something had him, and Master Splinter and I were flying after them and we were like ghosts or something, and there was this flying cat-monkey thing that was after me. I couldn't touch it, but it could touch me and - ow!" Michelangelo suddenly noticed that he had a burning pain across his shoulder.

"Mikey?" Leonardo asked concerned.

"In my dream that monkey-cat-thing got me across the shoulder, but it was just a dream, right?" He winced again as he looked at his shoulder. "This is weird. Its like I feel it, as if it really did happen."

In a very small voice Leonardo answered, "That's because I think it did."

Michelangelo followed Leonardo's gaze to his bed sheets. To his shock, there were three streaks of blood just like the scars he should have had.


	9. Chapter 8 Explanations

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Chapter 8 Explanations

"I wish I was home."

"Mikey?"

"I wish I was home."

"Michelangelo,"

"I wish I was-"

"Mikey, wake up."

Michelangelo opened his eyes, and saw Leonardo sitting on the edge of his bed, shaking him gently. Once he looked up at his brother, Leonardo stopped shaking him awake. "Mikey?" He asked gently.

"Leo?" It took Michelangelo a few seconds to reorientate himself. He was in his bed. He was home.

"You were having another nightmare, I think," Leonardo said calmly. "Are you all right?"

Michelangelo had a nagging headache at his temples, but he focused through the pain. "Yeah, Leo, but Raph! Leo, some witch or something had him, and Master Splinter and I were flying after them and we were like ghosts or something, and there was this flying cat-monkey thing that was after me. I couldn't touch it, but it could touch me and - ow!" Michelangelo suddenly noticed that he had a burning pain across his shoulder.

"Mikey?" Leonardo asked concerned.

"In my dream that monkey-cat-thing got me across the shoulder, but it was just a dream, right?" He winced again as he looked at his shoulder. "This is weird. Its like I feel it, as if it really did happen."

In a very small voice Leonardo answered, "That's because I think it did."

Michelangelo followed Leonardo's gaze to his bed sheets. To his shock, there were three streaks of blood just like the scars he should have had.

"Huh?" Michelangelo stared at the streaks completely confused. "Leo, how? I mean I...I don't understand. It was just a dream, wasn't it?"

"I don't think so," Leonardo said slowly, thinking. "You can still feel where that thing hit you?" Leonardo asked.

Michelangelo nodded. "And you have a headache right here," Leonardo touched his own temples as he spoke. "Am I right?"

"How did you know?" Michelangelo asked surprised.

Leonardo nodded satisfied. "I think I know what happened to you, Mikey. You've been dream traveling."

That didn't make any sense to Michelangelo. "I've been what?"

"It is also called spirit walking," a new voice said. Both turtles turned to see Master Splinter in the doorway.

"Sensei," Leonardo looked surprised to see him, but Michelangelo grew excited as he realized what that meant.

"Master Splinter! Does that mean that it was all real? And if it was real how did I end up back here? And if I was just like a spirit why does my arm still hurt?"

Splinter smiled at the questions. He joined Leonardo on the bed and offered Michelangelo a cup of tea. "This will help ease the spirit wound as well as the pain in your mind. That you walked within the dream at all is well beyond what you should be able to accomplish, Michelangelo.

As Michelangelo drank down the tea, Leonardo said, "I'm beginning to think that the creature, or at least the danger Mikey is feeling because of it is tweaking his ESP." He turned gently to Michelangelo. "Mikey, Don told me that when The Foot went after me in force, and you guys were at April's place you kept wondering what was keeping me."

"I did?" Michelangelo paused, and thought about it. " I guess I did, but I forgot about it with everything else that was going on."

Splinter had not forgotten. "You were the first to ask about Leonardo, and you repeated your request throughout the day."

Leonardo nodded. "That's why when you started wondering when Raph would be home, Don thought we'd better go looking for him right then and there. We think it's connected to your premonitions. You knew when Raph and I were in trouble."

"And what about what I did tonight?" Michelangelo asked. "I'm still not sure exactly what I did, but both of you are acting like I shouldn't have been able too."

"It takes great discipline of the mind to be able to free one's mind from the body and allow it to roam free as a spirit," Splinter explained. "I was quite surprised to see that you had accomplished the task without actually wishing too."

"I can do it a little," Leonardo said modestly. "But I've only really succeededa fewtimes. Master Splinter is right. It takes a lot of practice to be able to relax and concentrate exactly right to be able to do it."

Michelangelo digested this slowly "But I wasn't trying to do anything. I was asleep."

Splinter thought deeply. "This ability may also be innate as is your ability to predict the future. With training a ninja may also be able to open his inner eye and see other times, but it is very difficult." Splinter paused and studied Michelangelo carefully rubbing his chin. "What were you thinking about as you went to bed, my son?"

Michelangelo flushed slightly. "Thinking? I guess I was thinking about Raph, and that thing, and what I thought I saw on Raph's wrists." He paused and amended that last bit. "Well I guess I did see it, cuz I saw it when I was ...you know, and I'm pretty sure that witch is responsible for it."

Splinter nodded. "When you told me of the image of bands around your brother's wrists and how the creature could not touch him, I wondered if Leonardo's speculation that some magical force had shielded him from the creature's power was true."

"So Raph is under a spell," Leonardo mused. "I'll bet that's why he could see that thing that Mikey saw too."

"Yes," Splinter agreed. "That is why I chose to send my spirit out to see if I could not discover the source of the magic on Raphael. It is most likely your concern for Raphael that allowed your spirit to walk freely, Michelangelo."

Michelangelo tried to remember exactly what had happened in that odd dream. "I heard the witch calling for Raph," he said. "I thought it woke me up, and I got up to see what was going on."

"You're mind woke up," Leonardo explained with a grin. "The rest of you stayed right here."

"Is it like gonna happen again?" Michelangelo asked worriedly.

"I do not know, Michelangelo," Splinter said gently. "Your own mind separated your spirit and body. I believe you did so because you were worried for your brother. If you do so again, I would suppose you would have a reason, as you did now."

Michelangelo didn't like that idea at all. Now he couldn't stop his mind from wandering off?

Sympathetically Leonardo said, "Remember, Mikey it happened because you wanted it to happen, even if you don't understand it. If you really don't want it to happen again, it won't."

Michelangelo handed Leonardo the empty tea cup, and lay back down on his bed. "I don't know Leo. That never worked with the nightmare's," he reminded him.

"It might with some practice," Leonardo told him with a slight smile. "But I'm more interested in what you two saw. Are you sure Raph is really under a magical spell?"

Briefly Michelangelo recounted the not-a-dream to Leonardo. The more he talked the more serious he became. "That sounds like a magic spell all right," Leonardo said gravely.

Splinter nodded firmly. "I was positive of that when the witch called your brother's spirit to her. She has Raphael's spirit in bondage. That is what the golden bands on his wrist mean."

"But Sensei, she's not bad." Michelangelo insisted. "She told Raph that the only reason she zapped him was to protect him against that jello thing, and she wanted to answer his questions. She said she wanted to help him because of her cousin."

"Her cousin?" Echoed Leonardo. "Did she mean April?"

"She wouldn't say," Michelangelo answered worried. "Raph was asking her when that thing that scratched me came after me. That's when I did what Master Splinter told me about wishing to be home, and I woke up here. I don't know what happened after that."

Splinter furrowed his brow deep in thought. "Michelangelo," he began, "do you think that you could find that young woman's shop again in the physical world?"

"You mean like in real and not by doing what I did tonight?" Michelangelo asked. When Splinter nodded he said, "I think so. We were in Soho."

"Then tomorrow after dusk you and Leonardo will seek out this sorcerous, and see if we can not persuade her to release Raphael from her spell.

Michelangelo shook his head at that. "I don't know, sensei. She told Raph that the only way she'd take the spell off of him if she gets rid of that demon thing that's after him."

"Isn't she going to make him help her?" Leonardo asked. "He's under her control, isn't he?"

"He is, but she doesn't want to use him," Michelangelo explained earnestly, "She told him that helping her was up to him, and you know Raph, He's bound to refuse just so he can say no to her.

Leonardo sighed. "You're right about that," he said. "But we can offer her assistance. The sooner we can get rid of that thing, the sooner she'll take that spell off of Raphael."

"Then it is settled," Splinter said firmly. "Tomorrow you and Michelangelo will seek out this witch. I shall take Donatello and Raphael and see what I can do for Mr Jones." He glanced down at Michelangelo, who released an jaw splitting yawn. "Walking in dreams is as strenuous as walking in the waking world. You should go back to sleep, Michelangelo."

Leonardo bit his lit as he saw the fear enter Michelangelo's eyes "But...but what if it happens again?" Michelangelo asked worridly.

"I don't think it will," Leonardo said reassuringly. "You got most of your answers tonight. Hopefully whatever is driving your gifts is satisfied for now."

"But what if it's not?" Michelangelo asked. He yawned again.

"I'm not leaving, Mikey," Leonardo said gently. "You go back to sleep. Master Splinter and I will take care of things."

Michelangelo was tired, but still he fought sleep. "But what if-"

Splinter raised his hand silencing Michelangelo. "Enough, my son. Sleep now. You need to rest."

Michelangelo wanted to protest more, but obedience had been driven into all of them for so long he simply lay back down and rolled over on his side. Within minutes he was sound asleep.

Once Leonardo and Splinter were certain that Michelangelo was asleep Leonardo walked with his sensei to the entrance to Michelangelo's room. "I don't want to admit it sensei, but I'm beginning to get worried." Leonardo said pensively. "I mean this whole thing with that whatever it was is bad enough, but I'm beginning to think Mikey's problem is more serious. He's never dream walked before, or had visions while he was wide awake. "

Splinter nodded. "It may be that after being dormant for so long, Michelangelo's gifts are maturing. It also may be that the creature is affecting Michelangelo's abilities."

"Or it could be that we've never faced anything so dangerous before," Leonardo mused. After a few seconds of silence Leonardo said, "Sensei, I'm going to bunk out here with Mikey for the rest of the night. Just in case. "

Splinter agreed, then left Leonardo, and went back downstairs to his own chambers. Leonardo went back into Michelangelo's room, and cleared a space for himself on the floor. He was going to rest, but he wasn't exactly going to sleep. Leonardo folded himself onto the floor Lotus style, and allowed himself to fall into a meditative trance.. The last few hours passed peacefully as Leonardo pondered the events of the last two nights. By the time Michelangelo stirred later that morning, Leonardo had worked out a few things.

The spell on Raphael was lowest on his list of priorities. It was more important to deal with the creature, than to free Raphael from the spell. On top of his list was Michelangelo. Leonardo was beginning to worry that the strain of being pulled around by a force he didn't understand was going to break his brother's mind. They had to do something about getting Michelangelo's gifts under control before they caused him to crack under pressure.

It was late in the morning when Michelangelo finally woke. Leonardo opened his eyes and watched as Michelangelo tossed and turned for a few seconds. "It isn't gonna work," he muttered sleepily. "Can't break the spell with Raph there feeding it. Sensei, if you send Raph away you can wake him." Leonardo wondered at that, but just then Michelangelo rolled over and opened his eyes. "Morning Leo," He said cheerily.

Well that was encouraging. Michelangelo seemed to be back to his normal sunny disposition. He didn't seem to be aware of what he had just said seconds earlier. Leonardo filed the information away and gave his brother a visual once over. "You're feeling better," he observed.

"I guess," Michelangelo said with a smile. "I kinda figured out that if that magic spell is keeping Raph from being eaten I don't have to worry about him."

"Yeah," Leonardo agreed. "I figured that too. As long as the spell is on him Raph is safe." Then as an afterthought he asked, "what about the rest of us?"

"Huh?" Michelangelo sat up cross legged on the bed.

"You've been talking about Raph this whole time, but you haven't said anything about me or Don."

Michelangelo went from quizzical to serious. "Leo are you asking me to predict something?"

Leonardo knew how Michelangelo felt about his ability to see into the future. "No! I wouldn't!" he said immediately. He rose from his position on the floor and sat on the bed next to his brother. "It's just that, that thing almost got Don and I last night and you didn't see it coming."

"I don't know," Michelangelo said with a shrug. "I never understood why I can do this, why it stopped or what It started up again."

"We'll figure it out, Mikey," Leonardo said with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Then in an effort to change the subject he said, "Come on lets go see if we can find Don and Raph."

They didn't find the others. They did see a note on the refrigerator. "Hmmm," Leo mused as he read the note. "Don and Raph went with Splinter to Casey's." He opened the freezer and tossed Michelangelo the box of frozen waffles. While Michelangelo toasted Eggos, Leonardo got out the syrup butter and milk. He caught the waffles on the plates as they popped out of the toaster and together they shared breakfast.

After Leonardo finished the last of the milk, he looked at Michelangelo, and said, "Wanna spar?"

Two hours later both tired but charged found themselves back in the kitchen rehydrating. "That was fun," Leonardo said as he finished his water.

Michelangelo glared at him. "Leo, why does throwing me to the mat twenty times make a good time for you and Raph?"

Leonardo couldn't help but chuckle. "You're suppose to not let me throw you." He tossed Michelangelo another bottle of water.

Michelangelo opened the bottle and chugged down half of it before answering. "That's one thing I do wish that freaky gift did is tell me what you and Raph were going to do before you do it!"

Leonardo sighed. That was the real reason he beat Michelangelo in the dojo. "The workout was supposed to take your mind off of that. That's why I could take you down so easy. You weren't focused."

"I guess," Michelangelo admitted. "I'm still kinda worried about doing all this stuff."

Leonardo gazed down at his brother speculatively before telling him an old secrete. "You know back when you started having those dreams I asked Sensei what to do about them. He said we couldn't stop them, but we should let them guide us. Like we said, most of the time when we listened to you even when you didn't know what you were telling us you didn't steer us wrong. We were able to prevent the worst things you dreamed up." Suddenly Leonardo looked at the clock. "Speaking of Sensei I wonder what's keeping them?"

Michelangelo finished the water. "I dunno, you want to go check on them?"

Leonardo checked the clock. "I'd rather not run into Raph until after we check out that witch. I'll give Don a call instead. "He pulled out his shell cell and dialed Donatello's personal number."

It rang twice and then he heard his brother's calm cool distracted voice say, "Don here,"

"It's me Don," Leonardo said evenly. "I was just checking up on you three. How's it going?"

"It's not," Donatello said mildly annoyed. "Every time Master Splinter thinks he's figured it out whatever's holding Casey unconscious seems to shift."

_It isn't gonna work," he muttered sleepily. "Can't break the spell with Raph there feeding it. Sensei, if you send Raph away you can wake him._

Leo thought for a few seconds then with a quick glance at Michelangelo, he said. "Hold on Don, I'll look."

Confused Donatello asked, "Look for what? Leo what are you talking about."

Leonardo moved away from the kitchen and into Donatello's lab on the other side of the room. "Sorry Don, I didn't want Mikey to hear this. He said something this morning that didn't make sense until you just told me that. He said that whatever you were doing wasn't going to work unless you get Raph out of the building."

"He said what?" Donatello asked incredulously.

"I'll explain it all later," Leonardo assured him. "You just have to find a way to get Raph away from Casey. If you do that I'll bet Master Splinter will be able to get him up."

"If you say so, Leo," Donatello said uncertainly. "I'll get back to you if it worked."

Leonardo nodded even though Donatello couldn't see him. "Okay see you when you get back," he said then turned off the shell cell. Leonardo glanced at the clock again. It was still early but it might be a good idea to go and check out the witch before the sun set. He went back into the kitchen where Michelangelo was still sitting eating a bag of chips. "How do you feel about going to visit Raph's witch now?"

"Now?" Michelangelo asked as he took a final swig of water. "Before sundown?"

Leonardo nodded. "That thing seems only to be out after dark, so lets eliminate the need to be out in the dark. We can get to Soho by the sewers, and if you can remember what street you were on, we'll be able to find that too."

Michelangelo shrugged. "Okay."

To Leonardo's surprise Michelangelo didn't complain that he wanted to rest or it wasn't time. He simply got up and followed behind. _I wonder what he knows unconsciously_. Still Leonardo wasn't about to look a gift turtle in the mouth so he just nodded and led the way out of the lair.

Coming Soon Chapter 9: A Friend from the Past

"Mikey?" Leonardo whispered.

"Leo?" Michelangelo managed to struggle out. "Leo, what the shell is wrong with me? I feel as if my brain is on fire!" He clasped his hands to his head in pain. Leonardo reached out to support Michelangelo, and found his skin hot to the touch. That was wrong. They were cold blooded. They couldn't even get a fever. They got cold when they were sick, not hot. Leonardo wasn't sure what he could do.

Michelangelo couldn't keep in hiding any longer he was having trouble staying on his knees. Leoanrdo drew Michelangelo up into his lap, and did the only thing he could think of doing.


	10. Chapter 9 A Friend from the Past

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 9: A Friend from the Past

An hour later the pair were peering out of a sewer grate at a small store front across the street.

"Miss Annie's Magic's and Mysticisms." Leonardo read the sign above the store, as he climbed out of the sewer.

"Well if she's undercover, it's not obvious," Michelangelo said puzzled. "But when Splinter and I were here there was a magic spell over the whole place."

"But that was within the dream," Leonardo explained helping his brother out of the manhole. "The spell might still be there, but because you're in the normal world you can't see it. Still we'll use that back window you told me about."

Michelangelo looked up at the store, and scratched his head. "But what about that cat thing that got me? I mean at first I couldn't touch it and then it nailed me."

Leonardo looked at Michelangelo quizzically. "You mean that it was physical and became a spirit while you were watching it?"

Michelangelo looked back at Leonardo and shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that it hit me."

"Hmmmmm," Leonardo thought. "We'll just have to be careful. Come on, lets -" A sudden sound interrupted Leonardo. They jumped up on a fire escape above the street, and looked down at the street below. To their shock and surprise, Casey Jones was storming down the street with an angry scowl across his face.

"Master Splinter must have woken him up!" Michelangelo whispered excitedly to Leonardo.

Leonardo smiled to himself thinking that his advice obviously helped. "He doesn't look happy." Leonardo observed. Together they watched as Casey went right into the store without hesitation.

"He knows what happened to Raph?" Michelangelo asked confused.

Leonardo wondered at that. "Let's sneak in the back, and see what he's doing here."

They both moved around to the back of the store, and slipped in an open window. As Leonardo got his first at the back of the magic shop, he wondered at the ancient artifacts scattered around the room. "This looks like one of your B grade horror movies."

Michelangelo grinned as he climbed into the window. "I noticed the last time I was here. Her basement is worse." He placed his feet on the ground, but then teetered and lowered his head as if he were about to faint.

"Mikey?" Leonardo instantly reached out to steady his brother. "You okay?"

"I...I think so," Michelangelo shook his head and looked up. "I was just dizzy for a moment." When Leonardo looked at him concerned, he said. "I'm okay."

Leonardo sighed pensively, but they were already here. "Okay, Mikey, but tell me if you start to get dizzy again." Michelangelo nodded reassuringly. Just then the pair heard Casey's voice from the other room.

"Whadda you mean no? Annie, your gonna–"

Leonardo and Michelangelo moved forward to where there was a curtain separating the back room from the front of the shop. Casey was there facing a petite girl with black hair and smokey blue grey eyes. She was dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt that had "Princess" written on it in lavender. Around her neck was a silver pentagram, and a small metallic red turtle on a gold chain.

"I am not going to free him, no matter what you say, Casey!" She was shouting back at their friend. "The moment I do that dekabor will come flying out of nowhere like a bat out of hell and snap him up! Do you really want to be responsible for a dekabor eating your best friend's soul and turning his body into a homicidal maniac who's first victim will most likely be you?"

Casey took a step back. His face lost its aggressiveness, and took on a more pensive and worried expression. "It's that bad?"

"It's so bad that if you didn't have that charm my grandfather put on you. I'd have spelled you too!" The girl said forcefully pointing at the bandage Casey always wore around his arm.

Casey reached out and touched the bandage gingerly. "Yeah if that charm of your grandad's was so powerful why did it let you nail me?"

"Casey has a magic charm on him?" Michelangelo whispered to Leonardo.

"Shhh," Leonardo hushed his brother

Annie rolled her eyes at Casey. "Because you lame brain, it doesn't stop magic. My grandfather wouldn't have shot himself in the foot like that. He had to keep you in line. That thing blocks evil magic, not white magic, and if you didn't have it, that thing might have eaten your soul for breakfast!"

Casey looked chagrined, but then he glared at her again. "So why didn't you give Raph a charm like this one?"

Annie glowered back at him. "Did you forget that my grandfather died last year? I'm only nineteen! He didn't teach me how to do most of the protections spells. The only way I knew of to protect Raphael was to bind his spirit to me, that way my powers are in him. The dekabor can't get him as long as I hold him."

"It still ain't fair!" Casey said. "Your gotta does something so you can take that spell off him!"

The bell on top of the door suddenly rang. Standing in the doorway was a young woman with short cropped black hair. She was wearing a pin-striped grey business suit. Both Leonardo and Michelangelo recognized her instantly.

"Sydney?" Leonardo said softly? Sure enough it was the girl who had once been the creature Quarry. She looked amazingly normal for someone who had been mutated by the Shredder's genetic scientists.

The witch nodded at Sydney and then glared at Casey. "I said no, now if you don't mind, I have a real customer." She pointed to the door. "Good day Casey."

Casey shook his finger at her as if she were a naughty child. "I'm not done with you yet Annie! I'll be back!" With that Casey stormed out of the shop.

Annie sighed relieved. Sydney stared after Casey as he slammed the door of the shop closed. "A dissatisfied customer?" She asked.

"Don't worry about him, Sydney." Annie said. "I can handle him." Then more concerned she asked. "How are you doing cuz?"

Sydney didn't appear very happy. "Not too good. Things have been crazy lately, and I'm afraid I'm going to lose control again. Did you get it finished?"

Annie smiled and took an amber necklace out from behind her counter. "Just like you ordered. This should block your projections."

Sydney examined the necklace. "Thanks Annie this will help a lot." She slipped the necklace over her head. "Yes," Sydney said relieved. "I can feel the difference. Nothing of mine is going to leak out of my head now."

Michelangelo and Leonardo looked at each other. "Leak out of her head?" Michelangelo whispered.

Leonardo shrugged. "That's what she said," Leonardo whispered back. "I wonder what she means."

Annie was admiring the necklace around her cousin's neck. "You know Sydney that wouldn't be necessary if you joined the white order."

That got Michelangelo's attention. "The white order?"

Sydney shook her head firmly at her cousin. "I told you and grandad before, Annie, I don't want to be in the order. I never wanted these gifts. I accepted grandfather's training to control my projections, but it's not good enough anymore."

"I know," Annie said sadly. "Ever since you reappeared, you've been having trouble controlling your psi projections. I wish you'd tell me what happened Sydney. I know I'm not granddad but maybe if you'd join the order together we'd find an answer."

"I...I can't Annie," Sydney insisted. "I know how you feel about granddad, but I just want a normal life. I just want to contain what I can do. I have no desire to use it."

Leonardo couldn't help himself. He glanced over at Michelangelo. Sydney's speech sounded very familiar.

"What?" Michelangelo hissed at his brother.

Annie sighed. "Okay Sydney, no pressure, but I still want to know where you were those three years you went missing. At least then we may figure out what boosted your projection ability."

Suddenly Leonardo was paying very close attention. _Boosted? Maybe what boosted Sydney's psychic power is the same thing that's making Mikey have those dreams again._ He glanced back over at Michelangelo who seemed to be under some kind of stress. Sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead and his breathing was becoming labored.

"Mikey?" Leonardo whispered.

"Leo?" Michelangelo managed to struggle out. "Leo, what the shell is wrong with me? I feel as if my brain is on fire!" He clasped his hands to his head in pain. Leonardo reached out to support Michelangelo, and found his skin hot to the touch. That was wrong. They were cold blooded. They couldn't even get a fever. They got cold when they were sick, not hot. Leonardo wasn't sure what he could do.

Michelangelo couldn't keep in hiding any longer he was having trouble staying on his knees. Leonardo drew Michelangelo up into his lap, and did the only thing he could think of doing.

"Sidney! Sidney Its Leo! I need help!"

Coming Soon Chapter 10 More Visions:

"No . . . " Michelangelo muttered shaking his head. His eyes were still fixed on the crystal before him, but somehow Leonardo knew that Michelangelo was talking to them. "No! It's there. That dekabor jell-O thing! If Raph breaks the spell now . . . "

"It's waiting for him to break the spell!" Annie said. Her hands went to the pendent at her throat. "Like a trapdoor spider, the moment he's free the dekabor will strike." Suddenly the pendent under her fingers flared a bright red. Annie closed her eyes and began chanting under her breath.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Annie, don't let go of him." Leonardo said with a shudder. He knew how angry Raphael could get. He didn't really understand magic. Master Splinter had explained a little bit about magic to him, and he knew that it had a lot to do with will power. He wondered if Raphael's temper would give him enough will power to break Annie's hold on his soul.

Annie seemed to be struggling with holding the pendent. "He's . . . he's so angry I . . . I don't know if I can hold on to him!"

"Annie you've got to!" Leonardo insisted.

"Leo, Annie isn't a fully trained witch!" Sydney explained. "She can't generate the power necessary to hold Raph in the pendant! It's like some kind of mental tug of war. Only the stronger will is going to win."

"A tug of war?" Michelangelo said. Leonardo blinked in surprise. He didn't know that Michelangelo was aware of what was going on in the room. Michelangelo looked from Annie to the crystal and then back again. "Of course!"


	11. Chapter 10: More Visions

Chapter 10 More visions

The curtains that separated the back room from the front opened to reveal the two girls. On Annie's shoulder was a small monkey that jumped down, transforming into the giant winged cat creature Michelangelo had described. Sydney was completely shocked that they were there.

"Leo?" She asked puzzled.

Leonardo drew one katana in defense against the cat creatures. "Call off your watchdog!" Leonardo ordered. "Michelangelo needs help!"

Sydney called off the cat. "Sam, stay back," she ordered. Annie stayed in the doorway as Sydney drew closer. "Leo what happened? How did he get like this?"

"I don't know," Leonardo admitted. "It started just as we entered the shop."

"It wouldn't have happened if you came in through the front door." Annie complained drawing a bit nearer. "The front of the shop is shielded because of all the psi's and sensitives that come though."

"Yell at him later, Annie," Sydney said sounding distressed. "Help him now."

Leonardo wasn't sure he wanted this witch's help. After all she was the one who had placed Raphael under some strange spell, but he didn't complain as the girl drew closer, knelt down, and placed her fingertips gently on the top of Michelangelo's head.

"Bingo, he is sensitive, and something in here is setting him off," Annie said

"Mike?" Sydney asked astonished, "A sensitive?"

Annie nodded. "Maybe even sensitive enough to be clairvoyant." She turned to look at Leonardo. "I'm right. He's clairvoyant?" Then slightly more surprised. "He was one of the two spirits here last night."

"I don't know what that means," Leonardo said. "All I know is that he has dreams that come true, and he did dream travel here last night."

"Definitely clairvoyant then," Annie said. She looked up to the large oak table where the rose crystal ball sat. "It's got to be the crystal ball, Sydney, find the cover!"

Sydney began to move around the chamber looking for something. The tiger became some sort of cat ape cross with wings, and began to search as well. In Leonardo's arms Michelangelo struggled to keep his hold on reality.

"Sydney! Whatever your looking for hurry!" Leonardo called back to her.

"Dammit Annie, when are you going to clean up around here," Sydney complained at the same time.

"Just find the damn cover!" Annie shouted back.

Suddenly Michelangelo grew very still. Leo suppressed a shudder. "Annie," Leonardo said carefully. "What's going on?"

Just then Michelangelo's eyes snapped open, but there was something wrong with his expression. He paid no attention to Leonardo or Annie at his side. He tried to rise to his feet and make for the table with the crystal ball.

"Annie?" Leonardo asked.

Annie turned to face him, her face full of concern. "Do you want him to have a full blown all out nightmare right now or no?"

"Preferably no!" Leonardo snapped back. "Why, what's wrong with him?"

"Then don't let him go," Annie said. Now Michelangelo was struggling against their combined grip. As she struggled, she explained. "His conscious mind just shut down. He's operating only on his gift right now, and it wants to see something that the crystal will show him. I don't think you want that to happen without a little preparation, do you?"

"Not really, I've been with Mikey through enough of his nightmares to know better." Leonardo said. Meanwhile Michelangelo was struggling to reach the table.

"Lemme go! I have to go to it!" He cried.

"Sydney! Find that damn cover NOW!" Annie shouted.

Suddenly the tiger ape came up with a single piece of black silk.

"Got it!" Sydney yelled as she snatched the cloth from the creature. She dove for the table and covered the crystal ball just before Michelangelo broke free of Leonardo and Annie's grasp. He froze in mid step, then collapsed on the ground.

"Mikey!" Leonardo shouted and got there a second before Michelangelo hit the floor. Leonardo drew Michelangelo up into his lap, and checked him over. Michelangelo seemed to be fine, just unconscious. Leonardo looked up at Annie and Sydney, and demanded, "what the shell did that thing do to Michelangelo?"

Sydney glanced over at her cousin. Sidney didn't appear hostile, just curious. Annie, with a little bit of fear, backed away from Leonardo. "Easy there, it wasn't my fault. Obviously he has something to see, and he went for a scrying crystal like a moth to a flame. You say he gets dreams that come true?"

Leonardo nodded and sighed heavily. "More like nightmares that come true. I can't remember anything that he's predicted that hasn't been a warning. "

"And you've prevented most of them from coming all of the way true." Annie said thoughtfully.

"I guess," Leonardo answered. "The only ones that have come all the way true were the one's we didn't understand." Leonardo swallowed and said, "That's one of the reasons I came here. Mikey hasn't done this stuff in a long time, and recently it's gotten way out of control. He's now having visions when he's wide awake, like now almost, and when you saw him in spirit form last night, he did that without even understanding what he was doing." Even when we were kids he was never able to do that before. I'm afraid that if he keeps going on like this he's going to lose his mind. Can you help us?"

Sidney drew closer to her friends. "Poor Mikey," she said sympathetically. "He's got it worse than I do."

"How long has he been having premonitions?" Annie asked as she bent down to touch Michelangelo's head again.

"It started long ago, when we were only six," Leonardo explained. "It was only dreams back then, but they were pretty vivid nightmares, and most of them came true or partly true after only two weeks. Just recently we found out that some things he predicted back then didn't come true until about two years ago. When he turned nine, they stopped for a while, but ever since we moved into our current lair he's been having them on and off again. It's just been this last week or so it's been getting worse." Leonardo turned to Sydney. "You mentioned that necklace is to keep something from leaking out of your head."

Sidney's hands when to the new amber necklace. "Oh," she said flushing slightly. "Yeah that, I'm a projective telepath, and . . . and I'm sorry."

That confused Leonardo. "Sorry for what?"

Sidney lowered her eyes to the floor as she continued. "I...I think during my last transformation I called out to Donatello. I think I made him come back down to us. I can't be sure. It's hard to remember anything from then."

"You called him?" Leonardo thought about that for a few moments. "You know that kinda makes some sense. All of a sudden he got very obsessive about finding a cure for you, and he said he got his answer in a dream." Leonardo looked at her quizzically. "That was you?"

Still embarrassed Sidney said, "It must have been. When I changed back into that monster I panicked somehow, and for some reason he was the last thing I can remember thinking about." With that a tear came down her cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to force him to come down there, but ever since we were trapped down there I could feel my abilities growing out of control. Turning back into that thing, just made me snap entirely."

"Don't blame yourself," Leonardo said. "But you may be my connection to what's going on with Mikey. Our lair was built by the same people who built that underground city. There were crystals in the lair. Did your abilities change when you were first exposed to the crystals?"

Sidney got very quiet and thoughtful. "I don't know. While I was changed, I couldn't project anything. It was only after I changed back that first time that I found my abilities were too strong to control."

"Which means you were in the city," Leonardo said nodding to himself. "Mikey's dreams came back on and off a few months after we moved into a cavern made by those same people, the Atlintians. Somehow they used the crystals as an energy source that did a lot of things including boosted their own mental abilities. I think those crystals had some kind of effect on you two."

"Maybe," Annie said. She had been very quiet throughout this exchange. "Maybe now you'll tell me where you were those three years you went missing, Sid."

"Why does she have too?" Michelangelo's voice said startling them all. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he was talking normally. "You told Raph you did something to look for her and you found us with her."

"You mean you knew!" Sidney said accusingly at her cousin.

Annie spun around and answered her cousin back. "Sid you were missing! Of course we were going to scry for you, but by the time we found you, it was too late. The Foot had already changed you. The only thing grandad and I could do then was cast a spell of circumstance and wait for it to work."

"A spell of . . . " Sidney paused, and looked at the turtles. "Is that what made them come after me?"

"What," Leonardo asked suddenly worried. "Did you cast a spell on us?"

"Not exactly," Annie explained. With a sigh she looked at Sidney as she spoke. "Grandad was still alive when we found out what the Foot had done. We couldn't fight them directly without exposing ourselves as wizards so we cast a spell of circumstance. It alters the chance of certain events happening so that the ultimate outcome is what you wanted it to be. Naturally the only outcome my grandfather, and I wanted was to enable Sidney to come home. Once the spell was cast anything that could help her was put into motion. The spell wasn't cast on you. You were simply part of it."

"I'm still not sure I get it." Michelangelo said. Leonardo breathed a sigh of relief when Michelangelo opened his eyes. Michelangelo looked right up into Annie's face quizzically. "It's you!"

"Yes it's me," Annie said. "You were spirit walking in my shop last night."

Michelangelo shook his head vigorously then put his head in his hands with an obvious headache. "No," he said. "I didn't get a good look at you last night, but I know I've seen you before somewhere months ago!"

"Months ago?" Leonardo wondered. "Mikey do you think you saw her in another dream?"

Michelangelo eyed Annie up and down before putting his head back in his hand. "Maybe, I think so. Uhg, it' hard to remember and my head feels like its splitting open."

Annie placed two gentle fingers on Michelangelo's forehead. "Man, your gift has something major to tell us. It's not going to leave you alone. I'm surprised you can contain it at all."

"Can you help me get rid of it?" Michelangelo asked. "I don't want my gift any more than Sidney wants hers." Even as he said it, he winced as his headache increased. "I can't take much more of this."

Annie sighed sadly as she traced a symbol on Michelangelo's forehead. Leonardo almost objected, but he noticed that Michelangelo had stopped shivering and was blinking sleepily leaning against Leonardo.

"Easy," Annie said gently. "I can't change what you are. No witch or wizard of the white order would dare do something so drastic. I can make it a little easier for you. Something is inside your head and it needs to get out."

"That part I was always able to figure out." Michelangelo snapped back. "I'm just not strong enough to keep it in!"

"A gift like that is better freed." Annie said sympathetically. "It finds its way free anyhow. If you'll let me, I can help you. At least it won't hurt like it would if you were having a nightmare."

Michelangelo still struggling with his vision looked to Leonardo. "Leo?" He asked.

Leonardo knew what he was asking. He wanted to tell this witch to keep her magic to herself, but he knew how much Michelangelo had been suffering. "Help him," Leonardo said. "But I'll be watching you."

Annie nodded and traced another strange symbol on Michelangelo's head and added a few words in a language Leonardo didn't understand. For an instant Michelangelo's eyes closed and his head dropped to his chest. Then very slowly he opened his eyes and lifted his head, but Leonardo could tell that whatever spell Annie had laid on his brother was controlling him now.

"What did you do to him?" Leonardo demanded, but his voice was soft, afraid to break Michelangelo's trance.

"It's all right," Annie said. She took Michelangelo's hands in hers and helped him rise to his feet. Slowly Leonardo followed. "Sidney," she said calmly still leading Michelangelo to the oak table where the crystal that started his problems rested. "Take the cover off the crystal. It's time your friend did a little crystal ball gazing."

Sidney didn't look happy, but she took the cover off the crystal ball anyway. Instantly Michelangelo's attention turned toward it. He shook off Annie and Leonardo's support and all but ran to the crystal. Annie grabbed hold of Michelangelo's shoulders for a moment to slow him down.

"Easy," she said. "Not too fast now, or it will hurt." She guided him to a chair, and drew the crystal closer to him. Eagerly Michelangelo reached for it.

"It's . . . It's like basking in sunshine!" Michelangelo said in a detached awed voice. The moment he touched the pale pink crystal it began to shine like a lamp.

Leonardo came up behind Michelangelo and looked at Annie in shock. "Did...did Mikey just do that?" He asked pointing to the glowing sphere.

"Not exactly," Annie explained. "The crystal just focuses energies around us. What Mikey has done is tap into it. He saw the power in the crystal before you did." Annie stopped to admire something only she could see. "This is amazing he's doing in heartbeats what it takes me an hour of spell casting to do!"

"Wait until he starts talking," Leonardo said. He took a seat with Sydney. Annie moved behind Michelangelo's chair and leaned over to whispered in his ear. "What do you see in the crystal?" She asked.

In that same detached voice Michelangelo answered. "I...I can see Donnie, and Raph. They're scavenging by the junkyard. They're arguing."

Annie looked at Leonardo who shrugged. He had no clue what was bothering them. Annie turned her attention back to Michelangelo. "Listen, can you hear them?"

Michelangelo paused for a moment then with a smile said, "Yeah, Yeah I can! Raph's mad because Donnie made him leave Casey's place. Raph doesn't know he's awake yet. Raph's worried about him, and oh! Casey's there now."

Leonardo thought about that. "We saw Casey leave your shop, and we heard what he told you. We understand that you can't take the spells off of Raph until you defeat this creature of yours, but Casey doesn't."

Sydney who had been quiet up until then suddenly turned to her cousin annoyed. "You put spells on Raph? Is this what this is all about? Annie why-"

Annie didn't wait for Sidney to finish the question. "There's a dekabor loose Sid."

Sydney stopped in mid-sentence and sat down again. Her eyes were wide with shock. Leonardo, keeping one eye on Michelangelo and Annie, reached over and whispered to Sydney, "What's a dekabor?"

"A demon," Sydney answered with a shudder. "It chooses a host, someone aggressive, borderline stable, and possesses them. It kills their soul and uses their identity to create havoc in all their loved ones."

"No wonder it wanted Raph," Leonardo said. "What kind of spell did Annie use to protect Raph? She said something about holding him."

Sidney looked surprised at that but then with a sigh, said, "There's only one spell she knows where she could protect Raphael. See that pendant around her neck? The turtle one."

Leonardo nodded. He had noticed it before. It was a dark metallic red. Red was Raphael's favorite color, and Leonardo began to realize that it wasn't a coincidence. He almost wasn't surprised when he heard Sidney said, "That pendent holds a part of Raphael's soul."

"His soul!" Leonardo breathed out.

Sydney nodded. "It's the only way she could put her powers of protection inside of Raphael directly. If she wanted to she could actually work magic through Raphael now, but a white witch only uses that spell when lives or minds are at stake. She would never capture Raphael's soul to control him."

That made Leonardo relax a bit, but he tensed right back up again when Michelangelo started yelling at Casey through the crystal ball. "No! Casey, you bonehead! Don't make Raph remember her!"

"What's going on, Annie?" Leonardo asked

Annie had her hand to the little turtle pendant that Sidney just told him held a part of Raphael's soul. "I think Casey is trying to get Raphael to remember what I did." She answered absently. "When I cast the spell, I just ordered him not to tell you guys, but he was so conflicted about what I did he blocked it completely. Kinda like your brother here does with most of his dreams. Raphael understood, but he still didn't want me to do it, so by not remembering he didn't have any internal conflict. If he remembers, he might become angry enough to break the spell."

"No . . . " Michelangelo muttered shaking his head. His eyes were still fixed on the crystal before him, but somehow Leonardo knew that Michelangelo was talking to them. "No! It's there. That dekabor jell-O thing! If Raph breaks the spell now . . . "

"It's waiting for him to break the spell!" Annie said. Her hands went to the pendent at her throat. "Like a trapdoor spider, the moment he's free the dekabor will strike." Suddenly the pendent under her fingers flared a bright red. Annie closed her eyes, and began chanting under her breath.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Annie, don't let go of him." Leonardo said with a shudder. He knew how angry Raphael could get. He didn't really understand magic. Master Splinter had explained a little bit about magic to him, and he knew that it had a lot to do with will power. He wondered if Raphael's temper would give him enough will power to break Annie's hold on his soul.

Annie seemed to be struggling with holding the pendent. "He's . . . he's so angry I . . . I don't know if I can hold on to him!"

"Annie, you've got to!" Leonardo insisted.

"Leo, Annie isn't a fully trained witch!" Sydney explained. "She can't generate the power necessary to hold Raph in the pendant! It's like some kind of mental tug of war. Only the stronger will is going to win."

"A tug of war?" Michelangelo said. Leonardo blinked in surprise. He didn't know that Michelangelo was aware of what was going on in the room. Michelangelo looked from Annie to the crystal, and then back again. "Of course!" He suddenly said, he reached over to Annie and placed his own hand over hers as she held tightly onto the turtle pendant around her neck.

"Mikey?" Leonardo asked uncertainly, but Michelangelo didn't answer. He and Annie had their eyes closed, and their hands over the pendant. Even though Leonardo didn't have any particularly strong psychic gifts even he could see a slight shimmer of silver blue and red energies flowing over both Annie and Michelangelo.

"Sydney, What's going on?" Leonardo asked worriedly. "What's happening to Annie and Mikey?"

"I...I think he's helping her," Sidney said. "But I don't know how. He doesn't know any magic, does he?"

"Not that I know of," Leonardo said wishing he understood what was going on. "But with Michelangelo you never can tell."

Suddenly the two broke apart. Sidney caught Annie and moved her to a nearby chair. Leonardo managed to catch Michelangelo and lower him to the ground. There was a red glow around Michelangelo's hands, but it was fading away.

"Mikey?" Leonardo asked. "Mikey are you okay?"

"I...I couldn't hold on to everything!" Michelangelo said weakly. Leonardo stifled an involuntary shiver.

"You mean that dekabor can get him?" Leonardo said trying to keep his voice from trembling.

"N . . .no." Annie said from her chair. "We still have a hold on his spirit and body, but the restraints of his mind have been broken. He remembers now, and he's not happy."

"Big surprise," Leonardo muttered.

"Leo," Michelangelo managed to force out. "Raph's on Prince and Mercer. He's heading this way! He remembers Annie now, and he's majorly pissed!"

"I'll take care of Raph." Leonardo said. He turned to face Sidney. "Sidney, take care of them. I've got to stop Raph before he hurts somebody, namely us."

Sidney, nodded "Go ahead." She said.

Coming soon Chapter 11 Everybody Together now.

"That's how he was before," Donatello said, now coming forward with Casey. "When Casey started talking about some witch or something at first Raph didn't know what he was talking about, then something happened, and he got like this."

"He's fighting it again," Leonardo said with a sad shake of his head.

"Not exactly, Leo," Michelangelo said from behind them. Leonardo turned to see Michelangelo standing in the doorway of the shop. Annie and Sidney were behind him. Michelangelo didn't look well. He looked as if he had been in a major fight himself. He was supporting himself by leaning on the door. He was slightly pale, and the red turtle pendant that Annie had been wearing was around his neck.

"No," Raphael said in a whisper. He lifted his head, and gazed at the pendant resting on Michelangelo's plastron. "No no no!" He said fearfully. His eyes widened, and he shivered as if he had just gotten the worst scare of his life.

"All I did was pull on his leash a little so he'd stop fighting you." Michelangelo finished. He smiled mischievously as he tugged at the chain around his neck.

"No!" Raphael shouted again. But he did not get up from the floor. Instead he looked at Annie behind Michelangelo, and said rapidly. "Annie, no! I'll do whatever you say, whatever you want! I'll fight the dekabor for you, but please, please take the pendant back from Mikey!"


	12. Chapter 11 Everyone Together Now

Chapter 11 Everybody Together now.

Leonardo ran out to the front of the shop, and out the front door. Raphael was barreling down the street with both sai out, and murder in his eyes. Leonardo didn't wait a second longer. He drew his katana, and blocked a blow from Raphael's sai.

"Stop it Raph!" Leonardo ordered. Not that he expected Raphael to obey, but he wanted to get Raphael thinking past his temper.

"You're here?" Raphael said shocked. "You and Mikey? What were you in cahoots with that witch the whole time or something?"

Leonardo continued to block the blows from his brother as he argued back. "I never met her before today, Raph. Mikey and I were doing what you SHOULD have been doing! If you wanted that spell off of you that badly, you would have helped her!"

Raphael growled in anger and frustration. "You don't know! You have no idea what I'm going through! And you have the gall to want to HELP HER? "

Leonardo wasn't sure how long he could keep simply blocking Raphael. Being constantly on defense without taking an offensive blow was more difficult than being constantly on offense. Just as he was contemplating trying to disarm Raphael, his brother jerked backwards, and fell to the ground. "No!" He cried out.

"Raph?" At first worried that Raphael had hurt himself, Leonardo sheathed his katana, and took a step closer. Raphael wasn't hurt or anything, he was just fighting with something inside of him. He was on his hands and knees at Leonardo's feet with his eyes closed, shaking as he struggled with some unseen force within.

"That's how he was before," Donatello said, now coming forward with Casey. "When Casey started talking about some witch or something at first Raph didn't know what he was talking about, then something happened, and he got like this."

"He's fighting it again," Leonardo said with a sad shake of his head.

"Not exactly, Leo," Michelangelo said from behind them. Leonardo turned to see Michelangelo standing in the doorway of the shop. Annie and Sidney were behind him. Michelangelo didn't look well. He looked as if he had been in a major fight himself. He was supporting himself by leaning on the door. He was slightly pale, and the red turtle pendant that Annie had been wearing was around his neck.

"No," Raphael said in a whisper. He lifted his head and gazed at the pendant resting on Michelangelo's plastron. "No no no!" He said fearfully. His eyes widened and he shivered as if he had just gotten the worst scare of his life.

"All I did was pull on his leash a little so he'd stop fighting you." Michelangelo finished. He smiled mischievously as he tugged at the chain around his neck.

"No!" Raphael shouted again, but he did not get up. Instead he looked at Annie behind Michelangelo and said rapidly. "Annie, no! I'll do whatever you say, whatever you want! I'll fight the Dekabor for you, but please, please take the pendant back from Mikey!"

Leonardo tried very hard to keep a serious face, but the look of total terror on Raphael's face was too much for him to handle. His face screwed up into a smirk and a tiny bit of laughter escaped.

That at least got Raphael looking more angry than frightened. "This isn't funny Leo!" He shouted.

"Sorry," Leonardo said, still trying to keep from completely bursting into laughter. "But when you saw Mikey..." It was no use Leonardo doubled over in laughter.

"Raphael moved into a sitting position on the floor and glared at Leonardo. "Oh Shaddup!" He ordered.

Annie came forward, and gestured for them all to come inside. "Lets finish this conversation inside. Right now I couldn't magic up an illusion right now to hide you four."

Leonardo got himself under control, and gestured to the others to enter the shop again. Sidney went first, and ran into the back room. By the time the others were there, the rose crystal ball they had been using had been covered again.

Leonardo nodded his thanks and approval. It wouldn't do any good for Raph to see what that crystal did to Michelangelo.

Annie, and Sidney turned two of the chairs from the oak table around so that they faced the group. Casey plopped himself down on the Roman couch. Raphael stood behind the couch keeping Casey between him and Annie. Michelangelo folded himself not at Annie's feet but Sidney's. Leonardo and Donatello looked at each other, and sat on the ground between the two hostile groups.

"Now will someone please tell me what's going on?" Donatello asked. "Raph, how did you know how to find this place, and why were you so mad about finding Leo and Mikey here?"

Before Raphael could say anything, Leonardo decided to tell Donatello Annie's side of the story.

"Don, I'd like to introduce you to Annie, Sidney's cousin."

"So you're the reason I'm in this mess now," Raphael said still annoyed. He had his arms folded over his plastron, and he was scowling.

"It's more like she's the reason your not dead, and your lifeless husk isn't trying to make your brothers equally dead." Annie said defensively. My grandfather and I started looking for Sydney a month after she disappeared. Once The Shredder's men had changed her we knew she wouldn't come back, so together with other members of our order we cast a spell of circumstance that would help her get home. The only problem with using such a powerful spell is that it usually has a price. My grandfather was hit by a drunk driver about two weeks before Sidney came home."

Sympathetically Leonardo said, "we're sorry."

Annie nodded, and continued her story. "Every day after the spell was first cast either my grandad or I would check to see how Sidney was doing. Eventually we saw you four in the crystal. You majorly helped out Sidney, so we decided to keep an eye on you. Sydney never told me anything."

"Obviously I didn't have too," Sydney said with a grin.

"So when this dekabor escaped you knew enough about us to know you had to put protections on Raphael," Leonardo asked. Annie nodded agreeably.

"Unfortunately I'm not even half trained," she said. My granddad could have put a protection spell on you that you would have never noticed. The only way I know how to protect anyone is to fill them with my power, but in order to do that, -

"In order to do that you had to stuff part of me into that pendant Mikey is wearing," Raphael said accusingly. "

"It was either that or let the dekabor have you." Annie shot back. "The fact that both your brothers agreed with me should tell you I'm right."

"I understand why you did what you did," Leonardo said suddenly. "That doesn't mean I agree with it. Mikey and I knew that under his own violation Raphael wouldn't help you, so we were going to offer our services to get rid of that demon."

"Now that I don't get," Raphael said. How did you and Mikey find out what was going on? And what was Mikey doing here last night?"

"I wanna know how he got in last night too! My granddad said nothing could get though those shields". Annie said puzzled.

"I didn't go though the shields," Michelangelo said with a grin. He still seemed tired leaning against Sidney's chair, but his eyes were bright and mischievous. "I went under them. Your basement grate wasn't shielded so I got in that way."

"Wait a minute!" Donatello said trying to follow the conversation. "Mikey was in bed all last night. How could he have been here?"

"Mikey dream traveled here, Don," Leonardo explained. "He was worried enough about Raph that somehow without any preparation whatsoever he separated mind and body and came here. I was with him when he came out of it. When he told me what he learned here Master Splinter and I decided that we should come over and help Annie out."

"So," Casey asked. "What now?"

Leonardo looked up at Annie and then Raphael. "How can we destroy the dekabor?"

Annie shook her head sadly. "You can't destroy it. It's a spirit. All we can do is try to send it back where it belongs."

"So how do we do that?" Donatello asked.

"I have to find the rift that the dekabor came through. Then I have to corner it, heard it back into the rift, and seal it, so that it can't come back."

"But how do we corner and heard something we can't even touch." Michelangelo asked.

"We can't touch it," Raphael said, "but my sai can hurt it. Annie did something to this one, and now it hurts that thing.

"All I did was purify the blade." Annie said sheepishly. "The dekabor is an evil spirit, so now it recognizes it. It can hurt the dekabor, but you can't kill a spirit."

"I see," Leonardo said evenly. He pulled one of his katana's from it's sheath. "Can you do that to my katana?"

"Let me see," Annie said. Leonardo offered her his right katana. Annie looked at the blade as if she had been a master sword smith. She tested its balance, looked down the edge of the blade, and tested its sharpness. "Good metal, and good energies," she said finally. "I think it will take the spell even better than Raph's sai did."

"What about our weapons?" Donatello asked as he held up his bo.

Annie shook her head. "Sorry the spell only works with blades or metal weapons. This particular cleansing won't work on organic materials."

"Hmmmm," Donatello thought a moment then stuck his hand into his belt, and pulled out five shuriukin. "What about these? Can you cleanse these?"

Annie reached out and took the offered shurikin from Donatello. "Hmmm they are metal, and they have an edge. I could try. I'll be back in five minutes." With that she took the katana, and the five shurikin and went downstairs into her basement.

As soon as Annie was gone Leonardo said, "So all we have to do is find that thing, and move it to where Annie can deal with it.

"Easier said than done, Leo," Donatello said cautiously. "You and I can't even see that thing. How are we going to find that thing, much less find an interdimensional rift?"

"I'm thinking Annie can take care of that," Leonardo said. He looked over towards Sidney. "Can your cousin use that crystal ball of hers to find it for us?"

Michelangelo sat up at that point looking very confused, but said nothing as Sydney answered. "Yeah. It will take her a bit of time to do it, but she can. She probably will too. She'll also probably want to go with you to fight the dekabor."

"No way!" Raphael said, making an X with his arms. "We're going to have enough problems with that thing without having to protect her!"

"Yeah, like we'd have to," Casey said rubbing his neck. "I think your forgetting that Annie took us both down that night. She might not be her grandfather, but she's got some spells up her sleeve that come in pretty handy."

That made Raphael look at his best friend quizzically. "How do you know her anyway, Case?"

Casey grinned. "My grandma, and her granddad were good friends. They were in the same bridge club or something. I don't even know when he managed to nail me with that protection spell. He must have done it when I was a kid.

Michelangelo grinned and giggled. "If you ask me Raph doesn't want Annie along cuz he's still afraid of her!"

Raphael scowled. "Look who's talking," he said. "You're gonna sit there on your shell, and let her spend two hours trying to do something it takes you less than five minutes to do!"

Leonardo, and Michelangelo snapped around, and stared at Raphael in shock. How did he know what happened here earlier?

"What are you talking about Raph?" Donatello asked puzzled.

"Annie figured out how to get into Mikey's head and pull out the stuff that makes him have those dreams." Raphael explained. "She even said it herself. By using her crystal ball Mikey did in a couple of seconds what it would take her hours to do by herself."

"You didn't even know we were here!" Leonardo said. "How did you know what he was doing?"

Raphael smirked then and pointed at the turtle pendant that still hung from Michelangelo's neck. "Because fearless leader, once I shook the part of Annie's spell that kept me from saying anything that thing became a two way street. Annie might have been able to spy on me with it, but after I remembered, I could hear everything that went on in here. So I know that Annie found some way to harness those dreams of Mikey's. He found me for you, not her, and now he's going to sit there and let Annie do all the work cuz he's afraid of dreaming again!"

"That's not fair Raph!" Michelangelo said. "Leo didn't even ask me - "

"That's right," Raphael said sneering again. "He didn't ask you. He wasn't even going to, because we all gotta protect poor little scared Mikey from his big bad nightmares!"

Michelangelo looked at Raphael as if he had been struck. Donatello rose to his feet and glared at Raphael. "That's enough Raph," Donatello said harshly.

"See!" Raphael said stepping back from the group. "I'm the one with a control spell on me, and you two are tiptoeing around Mikey and his dreams. I was sick of it when we were kids and I'm sick of it now. I say it's time Mikey started acting like an adult and not a baby who's afraid to sleep by himself because his nightmares!"

Now Michelangelo was mad. "Ohhh so you're the big expert on acting like an adult huh? Well maybe then I should deal with things the way you do!" He got to his feet and stormed up the stairs in the back of the room. The shape shifting spirit cat took one look at Raphael growled, then followed Michelangelo up the stairs.

Coming Soon Chapter 12

At that moment Donatello came running down the stairs. "Leo, we've got a problem!" He said worriedly. "Mikey's gone!"

"He couldn't have just left!" Annie said. "I have the whole top floor shielded. I would have sense him leaving through a window or something."

"I got a bad feeling about this, Leo," Donatello said. "Remember what he said at Casey's place. He said nobody was safe until _he_ sent it back to where it belongs. "

Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other in horror. "Oh shell," Raphael muttered. "You don't think,"

"Wait," Leonardo said trying to think this thing out. "Even if Mikey got out, how could he have sneaked back down here and swiped my katana with the three of us standing right here! Mikey's good but not that good!"

Sidney frowned at her cousin. "The same way he got out of the top floor without Annie sensing him."

Suddenly Annie and Sidney had an identical look of horror on their faces. A second later Raphael did as well.

"Samantha!" The three of them cried in unison and they all began calling for the cat.

"Samantha!"

"Sammy, come on! This isn't funny!"

"Here kitty kitty kitty! If you took Mikey out of here I'm gonna turn you into spirit cat sushi!"


	13. Chapter 12 Guilt Trip

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Author's note:

Thanks for everyone reviewing and helping me out with this. I know sometimes my grammar and my spelling is a little off. In truth I don't have a beta reader, and I wish I did. After I'm done posting all the parts I'll probably go back and fix some stuff. If I don't start writing something else.

Disclaimer: The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 12: Guilt trip

Leonardo couldn't stand it. The moment Michelangelo was out of sight he whapped Raphael hard across the back of the head. Before Raphael could react, Leonardo said, "That was for Michelangelo." It was his icy cold tone that kept Raphael from retaliating. "Need I remind you that if it wasn't for Mickey and his nightmares you would have slid down that things throat three days ago? Before you even met Annie? And how about the fact that he was so worried about you that he dreamed traveled here on his own? He's not even supposed to know how to do that."

Raphael's face went from angry to now puzzled. "Wait, Mikey dreamed traveled? Like in Master Splinter's stories?"

"They're not stories," Leonardo continued. "I've done it, but it takes a lot of work. Mikey did it without even thinking about it. If Master Splinter hadn't been with him, he might have lost his way back to his body. This is going beyond his nightmares Raph. Right now Mikey is doing things he didn't even know were possible because of that monster, because he's been trying to help you!"

"Help me?" Raphael didn't notice Annie coming up the stairs, and putting the weapons aside. She folded her arms over her chest and waited to hear him out. "How did he help me, Leo? He not only warned Annie that I was trying to break this damn control spell she has on me but he helped her to hang onto it! I'm her slave, Leo, and she just made Mikey my jailor!"

"Do you want to know why?" Annie asked as she strode forward slowly. Her eyes flashed angrily, but she kept her voice deceptively low as she faced Raphael. "Do you want to know why he helped me? Do you have any idea what he's been seeing before he even knew who I was?"

That made Leonardo pause and think. "He said he recognized you from a dream, but he never told us anything about it before."

Annie nodded. "And dreams he doesn't reveal have a habit of coming back to haunt him, don't they?" She asked them. When Leonardo and Donatello nodded she started walking toward Raphael, still cross. "So how many times do you think he had the dream of me and you, Raph?" She asked sternly.

A frightened wild look crossed Raphael's face, and he backed away from Annie until he hit the wall. "Stop it, Annie!" He ordered.

"How many times do you think he needed to see us in that dream before he learned the lesson?" She asked still advancing toward him. "How many times did he wonder at who I was? This was months before the dekabor escaped. How many times did he help you in the dream only to find out that helping you destroyed you? How many times did he have to see you turn into the dekabor?"

"Annie, stop it!" Raphael said. He had his eyes closed but somehow the images he had seen in Michelangelo's mind at the moment the spells had stabilized and strengthened on him still assaulted him.

"And how many times did he see you kill him?" Annie asked, ignoring Raphael's pleas. "How many times do you think he saw those things? Four times? Six? You wanna try for ten?"

"Annie enough!" Raphael cried out panicked. Annie backed up enough to watch Raphael fall to his knees. "Enough." Raphael said in a whimper. "I didn't know he saw that ten times!"

"Yes you did," Annie said without a hint of sympathy. "If I knew it from him linking himself to the spell, you did too. Like you said, when I captured that part of your spirit it put you in two places at once. You were with us when I saw it."

Raphael was panting on the floor, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at his brothers neither one was giving him any sympathy either.

"I think you forgot how bad Mikey's nightmares used to get when we were kids." Donatello said evenly. " We were the two who would have to sit and calm him down. You would take off until he was sleeping again."

Raphael winced at the memory. All he had wanted back then was for Mikey to stop crying. He knew there was a likely chance that Michelangelo's dreams would come true, but he would never admit that to the others back then. For the first year of Michelangelo's condition, Raphael griped and complained about the extra attention Michelangelo would receive. When he realized that Michelangelo was really suffering because of the nightmares, Raphael had stopped complaining.

"And I made him a promise back then Raph," Leonardo said sternly. "I promised him I would do whatever I could do to help him. All Mikey wants to do is stop having the nightmares, so even if he offered I would have thought three times before taking him up on it! "

"Protect him, you mean." Raphael said. "You didn't wanna tell Mikey that he had started to have premonitions again, and you started sitting with him again when he's sleeping."

"At least Mikey isn't too proud to accept help when it's offered!" Leonardo insisted.

Raphael sighed. He knew they were right, but he wanted these invisible shackles off of him now! "Look I'm sorry I blew up at Mikey, but you don't know what I'm going through. Before I couldn't tell, but now I feel Annie's powers wrapped around me, and it's driving me crazy! If Mikey looks in the crystal ball, we'll be out of here in a half hour! It will take Annie three times that long to do it!"

Leonardo looked at Raphael sternly. "Only if Mikey wants to help, Raph. Goading him into it isn't going to make him feel any better."

"I'll go talk to him," Donatello offered. He slowly went up the stairs that Michelangelo had used before.

"After we're done looking for the dekabor," Leonardo said not dealing with the discussion on who would do the looking. "We'll use the Battle shell to track the thing down." He turned to Annie. "Can you send it back through the rift, and seal it?"

"You bet I can," Annie said, confidently.

Leonardo nodded. "Okay then, you're in. Raph, I know you don't like it, but Annie is probably the only one who can seal the rift back up. Now let's see what you've done to my katana's balance." He gave Annie a grin, and went to the table where she had set the blade down.

It was gone.

"Where is it?" Annie said as she came up behind Leonardo. "I left it right here!"

Leonardo counted the shurikin on the table as well. "Didn't Don give you five throwing stars?" He asked.

"Yeah," Annie counted the remaining stars. "There are only three now."

At that moment Donatello came running down the stairs. "Leo, we've got a problem!" He said worriedly. "Mikey's gone!"

"He couldn't have just left!" Annie said. "I have the whole top floor shielded. I would have sensed him leaving through a window or something."

"I got a bad feeling about this, Leo," Donatello said. "Remember what he said at Casey's place. He said nobody was safe until _he_ sent it back to where it belongs. "

Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other in horror. "Oh shell," Raphael muttered. "You don't think?"

"Wait," Leonardo said trying to think this thing out. "Even if Mikey got out, how could he have sneaked back down here and swiped my katana with the three of us standing right here! Mikey's good but not that good!"

Sidney frowned at her cousin. "The same way he got out of the top floor without Annie sensing him."

Suddenly Annie and Sidney had an identical look of horror on their faces. A second later Raphael did as well.

"Samantha!" The three of them cried in unison and they all began calling for the cat.

"Samantha!"

"Sammy, come on! This isn't funny!"

"Here kitty kitty kitty! If you took Mikey out of here, I'm gonna turn you into spirit cat sushi!" Raphael suddenly noticed that one of his secret pockets was open. "Hey Annie, can Sam do that kinda cleansing magic you were doing earlier?"

Annoyed, Annie answered, "I think so, but do you have to know that right now?"

Raphael ignored her attitude. "So Sammy got Leo's katana, a couple of Donny's shurikin and she must have swiped my garrotte right out of my belt pocket."

Leonardo watched as Annie's annoyance faded and she nodded severely. "Something from all three of you," she said.

"Does that mean something?" Donatello asked.

Sidney answered. "If Samantha is with Michelangelo, he now has something that belongs to one of you three. He's taken a bit of you each with him to go fight the dekabor."

Leonardo understood, and he didn't like it. "Well let's get the rest of us over to him as soon as possible. Annie can you find him?"

Annie suddenly looked at Raphael with an evil grin. "I could try, but it will be easier for Raphael to do it."

Donatello leaned over to Sidney. "I smell a payback coming up," he whispered.

Raphael was confused. "Me?" He asked.

Annie nodded. "The way Michelangelo tied himself into the spell I created was to pull with me, but still independently. Kinda like a dog walker's leash but with me and him being the dogs controlling the leash." Annie drew imaginary lines on the table in explanation. "There is really nothing connecting me and Michelangelo, but Raph has a direct line to both Mikey and me."

"But how do we use it?" Raphael asked.

"By putting you through what you wanted to force Mikey to go through," Annie answered.

"Uh oh," Raphael muttered under his breath.

Annie explained. "It's going to be a very simple trance. All I have to do is coach you back through your mind to find the tie you have to him."

Raphael didn't look happy about this in the least. Leonardo couldn't resist. He said with a grin, "Need I remind you that this is exactly what you were going to have Mikey do, but at least your looking for him, and not a demon."

"All right! All right!" Raphael threw his hands up in defeat and moved forward to sit down in the chair that Annie indicated. "Anything to get this over with!"

Annie smiled as she took a chair Casey offered her and faced Raphael. "This isn't going to hurt at all," she said.

"Yeah that's what you always say," Raphael complained. Still he couldn't help flinching a little as Annie drew closer to trace a symbol on his forehead. Instantly his eyes fluttered shut, his chin dropped down onto his chest, and all the tension left his body.

"Annie?" Leonardo asked, wondering if this was such a good idea.

"He's all right," Annie assured them. She now traced in the air in front of him, and whispered to him in a language Leonardo didn't understand. When she was done, Raphael's head came back up, but his eyes remained closed and body was still relaxed.

"Okay, Raphael," Annie said gently, "Find the line in your mind to Michelangelo. It starts around the bindings to your spirit, and trail away from here. You know where I am. Now find him."

In a very quiet still voice Raphael answered her. "I see him," he said calmly. "He's with Samantha just like we thought. She got him out of the shop. She took him with her into the spirit world. They've gone off to hunt the dekabor."

"Can you find them?" Annie asked him. Slowly Raphael nodded his head. "Okay then," Annie said. "I'm going to bring you out of it, but you have to keep that connection to Mikey open so we can track him down. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," Raphael said calmly. Annie again traced symbols before Raphael and whispered something. Suddenly Raphael's eyes flew open, and a hand went to his head.

"Raph?" Casey asked worriedly.

It was Raphael who waved his friend's concern away. "I'm okay Case," he said then amended it with, "I think. Man that feels weird."

"What is it?" Leonardo asked.

Raphael was still rubbing his head trying to sort out what was in his mind. "It's like, part of me is here with you guys, and part of me is with Mikey."

"Part of you is with Mikey. He's still wearing the amulet." Annie explained. "Can you track him now?"

Raphael nodded absently. "Yeah, yeah I can."

Leonardo wasn't too sure of that. "The Battle Shell, Don?" Leonardo asked.

The remote control was in his hands, and the van was just driving up the street. "Already taken care of," Donatello said proudly.

Raphael slipped past Donatello, and into the driver's seat. "I'd better drive, Donnie. It'll be easier than explaining to you what I'm seeing in my head."

That made Leonardo worry. "Annie, can he do that?" He wasn't fooled for a second. Annie still had some kind of hold on his mind.

"He'll be fine," Annie whispered back. "What I left in him helps him deal with the double images he's getting. Raph is right. It's easier for him to drive than to verbalize."

"Okay then," Leonardo said.

Annie turned back around and gave Sidney a hug. "Take care of the shop cuz," she said.

"Will do, Annie," Sidney answered. "Be careful."

Leonardo helped Annie into the Battle shell and the five of them sped off into the growing darkness.

Coming Soon Chapter 13 Striking out alone

"You're a spirit?" Michelangelo asked, "like that dekabor thing?"

_I am not like the dekabor,_ The voice answered a little sternly. _I can exists within a realm of substance, and interact with it as a dekabor can not. The dekabor is a creature of darkness. My people are beings of light._

"Oh," Michelangelo answered absently. Suddenly he realized what he was doing and shook the tranquil feeling out of his head. "Wait a minute! You can talk?"

Samantha lifted her head and nodded once. _I simply do not speak unless I have something to say,_ she said. She then looked back to the stairs. _Your brother is a fool you know. Annie is young, but she tries very hard to work within her means. He should not fault you for helping her. You did what was necessary to keep the dekabor from his spirit._

Mentioning Raphael brought Michelangelo completely out of the tranquil sensation Samantha had cast over him. Leaning against a pile of pillows, and burying his hand in her silky soft fur Michelangelo answered, "Oh Raph wouldn't understand. Over a month ago I had a set of nightmares that didn't make sense until he and Annie were pulling against each other. I knew what would happen if Raph broke the spell, so I helped Annie." Michelangelo tugged at the turtle pendant around his neck with his free hand. "I just wish I knew what I should do now." He sighed heavily. "Raph is right. I can see for them so much easier than Annie, but I hate these nightmares, and all the stuff I've been doing. I don't want to do it."

_The choice is _yours. Samantha said purring and rubbing her head against him._ Use your gift, or do not._


	14. Chapter 13 Striking Out Alone

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 13 Striking out alone

Michelangelo was mad. He stormed up the stairs to the small loft apartment above. He passed by the kitchen, and walked through a light sand colored door to his right. Around him was a bedroom decorated in pale pink and sky blue.

Michelangelo sighed. In his own room, or in the lair he could cut loose, and pound on something. He didn't dare here in what appeared to be Annie's room, so he just flopped down on the bed and buried his head in a pillow.

_It's not fair! Raph isn't being fair. He has no idea what its like to watch people you care about die night after night!_

He didn't turn when he heard the steps on the stairs. He didn't even look up until something wet was rubbed against his left wrist. He lifted his head to find himself eye to eye with Samantha, the odd shape shifting cat creature Annie called her familiar. Michelangelo make a small sharp squeak and slid to the other side of the bed. The last time he was this close to Samantha she had struck him so hard that even in the dream world he had bled.

"Nice kitty!" Michelangelo said frightened, but the creature didn't do anything threatening. She simply looked up at Michelangelo. She had the most intense yellow green eyes he had ever seen. They glittered and sparkled like gems lit from within. A strange sensation came over Michelangelo. It was as if some force was telling him he did not have to be afraid, that the great cat meant him no harm. She jumped lightly onto the bed, and lay down next to Michelangelo. To his surprise she rubbed her head against his hand with a low meow as if asking to be pet.

Her coat was an iridescent black that shimmered with a metallic gleam, and it was wonderfully soft and thick. Without thinking about it, Michelangelo began to stroke the rich heavy fur. It had a sweet spicy smell like cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper. It was so intoxicating, Michelangelo closed his eyes so he could savor it. She leaned her warm body against his, and began to rumble a deep soothing purr. With her back against his plastron, the low rumble in her body vibrated through his like a massage relaxing his tight muscles. He was aware on some level that something odd was happening to him, but it felt so good, he didn't care. All the angry frustrated emotions that had drove him up here were fading away. He felt as if he were floating in space but it wasn't cold like outer space. The place his mind was in was warm, and soft like the fur under his hand, filled with that spicy sweet scent, and rocked him with that steady monotonous purring. He knew this had to be magic. but he could feel that it was good magic, healing magic, and soon the spell the strange creature had laid on Michelangelo had him hovering on the edge of sleep.

_What are you? _Michelangelo wondered to himself, half lost in a dream._ Every time I look at you you look different. You're a monkey. You're a cat. You have wings. Your brown, black blue purple, and some colors I don't' think I've ever seen before, and you have more magic than Annie does._

_I am not of this world,_ a soft feminine voice answered him in his mind. _I exist in all places, in all times and in all forms. What you see me as, is not what I am. My realm is within that of spirits, and not of substance._

"You're a spirit?" Michelangelo asked, "like that Dekabor thing?"

_I am not like the dekabor,_ The voice answered a little sternly. _I can exists within a realm of substance and interact with it as a dekabor can not. The dekabor is a creature of darkness, my people are beings of light._

"Oh," Michelangelo answered absently. Suddenly he realized what he was doing and shook some of the tranquil feeling out of his head. "Wait a minute! You can talk?"

Samantha lifted her head and nodded once. _I simply do not speak unless I have something to say,_ she said. She then looked back to the stairs. _Your brother is a fool you know. Annie is young, but she tries very hard to work within her means. He should not fault you for helping her. You did what was necessary to keep the dekabor from his spirit._

Mentioning Raphael brought Michelangelo completely out of the tranquil sensation Samantha had cast over him. Leaning against a pile of pillows and burying his hand in her silky soft fur Michelangelo answered, "Oh Raph wouldn't understand. Over a month ago I had a set of nightmares that didn't make sense until he and Annie were pulling against each other. I knew what would happen if Raph broke the spell, so I helped Annie." Michelangelo tugged at the turtle pendant around his neck with his free hand. "I just wish I knew what I should do now." He sighed heavily. "Raph is right though. I can see for them so much easier than Annie, but I hate these nightmares and all the stuff I've been doing, and I don't want to do it."

_The choice is yours, _Samantha said purring and rubbing her head against him._ Use your gift, or do not._

Michelangelo sighed. "It's not that simple," he told her.

_But it is._ Samantha insisted. _You either use the gift or you do not._ The great cat looked at Michelangelo with her yellow green eyes. _You are afraid to use your gift._

Michelangelo nodded. "I've never seen anything good. I always see my sensei or my bro's getting hurt or worse. I don't want to see them get hurt."

_Do they get hurt when they listen to you? Or when you do not tell them your dreams?_ Samantha asked.

"I always tell them my dreams," Michelangelo said. "Most of the time I don't remember them anyway except that I had them. The only time I didn't say anything was the dream about Annie, and ..." Suddenly he stopped and thought. "That dream was for me!" Suddenly his thoughts began to run nonstop. "All the dreams I tell my bro's about something they have to do, but the dream I remembered was for me! So if I want to find that thing! I have to do it by myself! He jumped off the bed, and was almost to the stairs when he realized. "Oh shell they won't let me go off on my own! And if I go down there to use Annie's crystal ball they'll all have something to say about it."

Samantha gave him a curious glance. _Do you truly wish to scry for the dekabor without assistance?_

"Can you help me?" Michelangelo asked. "I mean you seem to know something about this, and well you did something to my head, so you're sort of magical."

Samantha eyed him up and down. _Are you asking for my help then?_ She asked him. There was an amused tone to her mental voice.

"If you can," Michelangelo said nodding eagerly.

_Very well then,_ Samantha agreed. _Go into Annie's desk the left drawer please. You will find a copper enameled box. Take it out and bring it here to the bed._

He only hesitated a second. Surely Samantha wouldn't tell him to do anything wrong. He jumped off the bed, went into the drawer of the pink writing desk, and brought out a copper box with Celtic symbols and green enameling. He brought the box back to Samantha and hopped back on the bed sitting Indian style. Samantha came in front of him, shrinking to the size of a large dog, and curled up before him.

_Make yourself comfortable,_ she instructed Michelangelo. _Now focus your mind on what you want to know. Where is the dekabor? And how can we send it back to where it belongs without cost to your brothers? Once you have your purpose fixed within your mind, open the box and unwrap the crystal you find within._

Michelangelo did as he was told. He closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. He grounded himself and focused the way Master Splinter had taught him. He thought about the question he wanted answered, and then opened the box.

Inside was a small sack of black silk, Michelangelo opened that as well, and dropped the contents into his hand. It was a small rose crystal ball the size of a billiard ball. Inside he could see the tiny imperfections that gave the interior of the ball a spider web pattern.

Just like downstairs, the crystal seemed to be generating a welcoming warmth. Michelangelo immediately felt safe, secure, and willing to use this energy to see. _Please,_ he pleaded the crystal silently._ Help me see something that will help me keep my bro's safe._

As before he felt his eyelids suddenly drop and his vision grey. When he opened his eyes again he saw before him Riverside park. A major rumble was occurring between different factions of the Purple Dragons, and a few smaller gangs. In the midst of it was the dekabor with it's sickly green fog infecting everyone's mind, and encouraging the worst in the fighters.

This time people were going to get badly hurt. This time people were going to die. "No," Michelangelo whispered to the crystal. "How do I stop this?"

Strangely enough the crystal answered him. He could see himself somehow uphill from the melee. _Were there hills in Riverside Park? _He had a small ball of something red that he tossed to the ground. It rolled down the hill, growing as it went. It grew larger and larger gaining colors as it grew, but it's primary color was still red. The ball grew larger than he was, and it flattened everything in it's path including the dekabor. His vision greyed out again, and then it was over. He was back in Annie's bedroom sitting on her bed, with Samantha staring at him.

"I'm supposed to get a ball rolling," he said confused.

_Was the vision symbolic or realistic?_ Samantha asked him.

"Huh?" Michelangelo didn't understand at first, but then remembered the handful of times that his dreams had been very odd and they had been symbolic for something completely different. "Oh! Symbolic, I think." Suddenly he did know what the dream meant. The red and multicolored ball. "Oh! I'm supposed to get Raph and the others to help me! But I've got to start things off. So lets go hunting demons!"

_Wait my friend,_ Samantha said with an amused chuckled to her mind voice. _It is not wise to go hunting demons with no weapons that can harm them. Wait here._ With that Samantha simply vanished from sight.

"Woah! Cool trick!" Michelangelo said. He wasn't sure what he should be doing but a second later he didn't have to wonder as Samantha had reappeared. At her paws, sat a pair of shirukin, and a garrotte. In her mouth was Leonardo's katana.

"Man, Leo is gonna be pissed." Michelangelo said with a grin. He wasn't particularly fond of edged weapons, but he would have loved to seen Leonardo's face when he realized that one of his precious blades was missing. "Why'd you take their stuff?"

_This belongs to Leonardo, the stars are Donatello's and this device is Raphael's. You have something that belongs to each of them. So you are taking a part of them into battle with you._

"Huh?" Michelangelo still didn't understand.

Samantha sighed. _It is a magic thing._

"Oh okay," That satisfied him. He made a makeshift sheath for Leonardo's katana out of a bathroom towel and some duct tape. Once the extra weapons were secured he asked, "so now what?"

Samantha leaped down in front of Michelangelo growing to the size of a small horse. _If you trust me, we shall go._

"You want me to ride you?" Michelangelo asked amazed. "Radical! It'll be just like in Elf Quest!" Without a second thought he climbed on Samantha's back and tucked his feet up by her rump. "Hi ho! Kitty kat! Away!"

Samantha made the tiniest shiver down her back. Michelangelo noticed that instantly the colors of the room shifted. They were brighter, and a blue haze covered the walls. Looking down at his own arm, he noticed that it was transparent.

_We can move more quickly in my realm. _Samantha explained. _Do as I say and do not break contact with me until I tell you to. If you get lost now, it will be very difficult to return you to your brothers. _

Michelangelo didn't bother answering he just nodded. Samantha felt solid enough. He could feel her muscles bunch underneath him, and she made a leap for the glowing blue walls. He understood now. Somehow she had dragged him, body and soul into the spirit world. He didn't worry about how she did that. Right now the only thing he worried about was the demon outside of these walls, and his brothers within.

Coming Soon Chapter 14 Hunting for Michelangelo

"Can you still find him?" Annie asked. Raphael nodded. Leonardo could see that Raphael was still in that preoccupied state, but he seemed just as aware of what they were doing.

"This way," Raphael said as he opened the door to the Battle shell. He led them out to a path above a large field. About a hundred gang members were battling each other below. Leonardo drew his remaining katana and was about to go charging down there when Raphael stopped him.

"Leo, No! That thing is down there!" Raphael warned. He looked up at the young witch. "Annie?"

Before he could even ask, she said. "I can see it!"

"But Leo, Don, and Casey can't!" Raphael insisted. "How are they gonna help us, if they can't see it?"


	15. Chapter 14 Hunting for Michelangelo

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 14 Hunting for Michelangelo

In the back of the Battle Shell Leonardo fidgeted uncomfortably. It wasn't like Michelangelo to go off on his own like that. Then again once when they were children a vision had sent him running out of the lair, and he wasn't found for hours. Still he couldn't help worrying about Michelangelo, and he couldn't help worrying about Raphael. Even though Raphael was paying attention to driving still seemed to be lost between what was going on here and what he was experiencing in his mind.

Raphael made another turn going further uptown. "We're heading toward Riverside Park," Donatello said. "And the police band says there's a fight in that area."

"There was also a fight brewing when we first encountered the dekabor," Leonardo reminded them. "Maybe it's causing this somehow."

"Man, don't you remember, Leo?" Raphael asked from the driver's seat, startling Leonardo. "Mikey and I saw what that thing was doing. It was infecting everyone with some kind of green gas. It was making everyone crazy!"

Leonardo shivered internally. He remembered how that thing made him feel, and he didn't like it. He never liked being out of control of his emotions.

Oblivious to Leonardo's discomfort Raphael suddenly snapped his fingers, and turned to glance at Annie before turning his eyes back to the road. "Hey, Annie," he said, "is there any reason that your dekabor would hate Mikey?"

The odd question helped Leonardo shake off his shivers. "Hate him?" He asked puzzled. "What do you mean, Raph?"

"I mean it hated him," Raphael snapped back. "During the fight Mikey came between me and that thing, and it backed off. It wasn't his weapons. They just passed right though it. It was Mikey. It was like he had this spell on him, but I know he don't."

"Do you think he has shields against magic or something?" Annie asked thoughtfully.

"Shields?" Donatello echoed. "Before meeting you, we didn't even know magic existed. How could Mike shield against it?"

"We didn't," Leonardo said, a small idea beginning to form in his mind. "But Mike has kept secrete friends from us before. Maybe they put shields on him or something."

Both Donatello and Raphael knew what Leonardo meant. For years Michelangelo had secretly visited a colony of mermaids deep below the city. The mermaids may very well be able to add some pieces to this puzzle, but all three of them knew that they couldn't tell Annie about them. Not only were they honor bound to keep the mermaids a secret, but due to their aquatic nature, they were instinct bound to keep quiet.

Suddenly Annie looked at Casey, and said, "Just tell me if I'm right or wrong. Michelangelo is very up beat. If he's not concerned with his own happiness, he's concerned about somebody else's. He's slow to get mad, and almost never holds a grudge. Basically he sees good in almost everybody, and he may not be serious about life, but he is definitely serious about living."

"Nailed it in one," Casey said impressed. "You're pretty good at reading people."

"That's not it, Casey," Leonardo explained as he faced the young witch. "Its Mikey's nature that protects him. Just like its Raph's temper that attracts the dekabor, its Mikey's positive attitude that repels it."

"Exactly," Annie said. "Too bad Mike took off on us before we could figure that out. He could herd the dekabor himself by just annoying it."

Raphael chuckled at that. "Trust me Annie. Mikey can drive anyone away by annoying them." He stopped the Battle Shell next to the park. "He's close."

"Can you still find him?" Annie asked. Raphael nodded. Leonardo could see that Raphael was still in that preoccupied state, but he seemed just as aware of what they were doing.

"This way," Raphael said as he opened the door to the Battle shell. He led them out to a path above a large field. About a hundred gang members were battling each other below. Leonardo drew his remaining katana and was about to go charging down there when Raphael stopped him.

"Leo, no! That thing is down there!" Raphael warned. He looked up at the young witch. "Annie?"

Before he could even ask, she said. "I can see it!"

"But Leo, Don, and Casey can't!" Raphael insisted. "How are they gonna help us, if they can't see it?"

"I can take care of that," Annie said. She rolled up her sleeves, but Raphael suddenly came between her and the others.

"No way Annie, You are not casting a spell on my bros!" Raphael said angrily.

"This isn't like what I did to you for crying out loud!" She said. "This will only take a minute!" She took Leonardo's hand in her own, and with her free hand she covered his eyes. After a few seconds of uncomprehensible muttering, she uncovered Leonardo's eyes. Instantly he winced.

"Ow!" Leonardo said surprised. "That's bright! It's almost like daylight out now."

"It will wear off, but it's the easiest way to let you see into the dekabor's range." Annie said. She moved forward and copied the spell on Donatello.

Leonardo squinted trying to get used to his new vision. "Will this let us find Michelangelo?" He asked.

"Possibly," Annie said. "It depends on what Samantha has done with him, and what plane she's taken him too, but you will see the dekabor"

"Whadda ya mean what plane?" Raphael asked. "Can't you just call your kitty cat back or something?"

"She's not exactly mine," Annie explained as she finished with Donatello, and began on Casey. "She was really my grandfather's familiar. When he died Samantha decided to stick around, but I have no control over her. A familiar is a partner, not a servant."

"What is she anyway?" Donatello asked blinking to adjust his eyes. "Every time I look at her she looks different."

"I'm not quite sure. She's not from our universe," Annie said. "Most of the time she's not even solid. She moves in and out of the spirit world like we do through doors. That's how she got Michelangelo out of the building."

"And if she can travel through other planes of existence, there's no guarantee we'll be able to find them." Donatello said worriedly.

"Mikey's here!" Raphael insisted. "He's in the middle of that fight down there somewhere. We can't see him, but I can see what he's seeing in my head." Raphael closed his eyes and oriented for a moment. "He's there!" Raphael pointed to their left.

"Right where the giant orange blob of jell-O is, right?" Donatello asked in a small voice. The others all looked.

"That's it!" Raphael said. "That's the dekabor! And Mikey is right there with it! I know he is!"

"Maybe he's what's making the thing back away," Leonardo observed. Sure enough the dekabor was backing away from a distortion in the air that seemed to shimmer in the air before it.

Despite his worry, Raphael grinned. "Finally It's about time Mikey's talent for annoying people did some good for a change."

Coming Soon Chapter 15 Hunting the dekabor

Michelangelo looked up in that direction and sure enough he could see the orange haze begin to form the creature. Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention as well. It was the Battle shell. "All Right! The calvary has arrived!" He moved back in front of the dekabor. "Give it up Decky. When Annie gets here, you're going back in the trans dimensional fridge!"

If the thing could be said to turn, it did so, facing the Battle Shell. _The white witch? No, I shall not go back. There is food here for the taking. I will not go!_ The dekabor again spread its green gas around it and called more fighters in.

"Man!" Michelangelo muttered as he fought off his attackers. "I wish I could figure out a way to get that thing to stop doing that!"


	16. Chapter 15 Hunting the Dekabor

Chapter 15 Hunting the dekabor

Samantha stopped on a rise overlooking East River Park. Below them they could both see at least a hundred humans from different gangs fighting each other. In the middle of the melee the dekabor sat there like the spider in the center of its web drinking in the chaos.

"Man," Michelangelo said worriedly. Now running out here alone didn't seem like a good idea. "Sammy, what can I do all by my self?"

_You will not be alone for long. Your brothers are searching for you. Can you not feel them watching you?_ Samantha asked.

"Feel them . . . " Michelangelo trailed off puzzled then he realized what the spirit cat meant. He turned his attention inward and foud that he could almost hear Raphael's thoughts in the back of his head. "Wait how -"

_You wear the talisman that my charge created to keep his soul within her keeping. A part of your brother rests within. Therefore, he is with you now, and he can tell the others where you are._ Samantha explained.

"Well I was supposed to get the ball rolling," Michelangelo said with a grin. He gently patted Samantha on her shoulder. "So what can we do now?"

_You must distract the dekabor. Lead it away from the other fighters, but beware. I cannot interfere with mortals directly, and I am not permitted to assist you in battling the dekabor. I can defend you, but no more. _

"So I have to do everything solo?" Michelangelo asked. When the cat nodded, he said. "Okay then, get me down there. If there is one thing I know how to do is distract someone!" He leaned down over her black silken back again. With a mighty leap Samantha and Michelangelo started down the hill, into the battle below.

Several humans tried to hit Michelangelo and Samantha, but their blows simply passed through their bodies. Without any hindrance, Michelangelo and Samantha ran straight for the dekabor.

_You must get off now my friend,_ Samantha said, _I shall guard your back but I cannot fight the demon for you._

Michelangelo understood. "Will do Sammy, give me the signal when we're back in the real world again." When he felt his body suddenly grow heavy and he could feel the ground beneath his feet again, Michelangelo dismounted the great cat, drew Leonardo's katana, and sliced at the dekabor's tentacles separating him from one of the human fighters. The dekabor roared angrily and backed away from Michelangelo.

"Okay Deky! The party is over!" Michelangelo said as he sliced again. "Time to stuff you back in your hole!"

The dekabor seemed to grow in size turning a slickly orange green. _Think again little turtle,_ The creature said. _I can destroy you and yours with only a thought._

"Don't think so, jell-O boy! If you could destroy us, you would have the first time." Michelangelo said showing off more bravado than he felt. "Besides I'm packed with lots of little gizmos that have all been spelled to hurt you!" With that he jumped backwards and pulled one of the cleansed shurkin and threw it, breaking another tentacle from its host.

The dekabor roared with anger and pain, and backed away from Michelangelo. _Impudent creature. You think you can harm me? _ From its body the sickly green fog spewed forth infecting the fighters nearby. _My servants,_ the dekabor commanded. _Destroy the turtle! Kill him. Feel his life blood as it ebbs through your fingers!_

"Uh oh," Michelangelo said realizing that the dekabor didn't have to fight him directly. Right around him were twenty humans, all now seized with the desire to destroy him.

Michelangelo sheathed Leonardo's blade. He didn't like edged weapons, and he didn't want to use them against humans. Instead he pulled out his favored nunchucks, and began to twirl them. As the punks advanced on him, Michelangelo began to whap at the fighters, getting them out of his way, moving back in the dekabor's direction.

The dekabor again cried out and then vanished from its position. Confused at first Michelangelo called out to his new friend. "Sammy, where'd it go? I can't see it anymore!"

Samantha appeared on his right and said, _up the hill at eight o'clock_

Michelangelo looked up in that direction and sure enough he could see the orange haze begin to form the creature. Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention as well. It was the Battle shell. "All Right! The calvary has arrived!" He moved back in front of the dekabor. "Give it up Decky. When Annie gets here, you're going back in the trans dimensional fridge!"

If the thing could be said to turn, it did so, facing the Battle Shell. _The white witch? No, I shall not go back. There is food here for the taking. I will not go!_ The dekabor again spread its green gas around it and called more fighters in.

"Man!" Michelangelo muttered as he fought off his attackers. "I wish I could figure out a way to get that thing to stop doing that!"

_It is repelled by your presence as much as the weapons._ Samantha explained. _The rift through which it came is a block to the west. You must force it there!_

"My presence?" Michelangelo wondered, then he remembered. During That first encounter with the dekabor when he saw it going after Raphael he tried to strike it. His nunchucks had no effect but it backed away from him! "Sammy, can you just get me past these guys and back to the dekabor? I can't fight him with all these goons in the way."

_I can do better than _that. The cat creature told him. _I shall shift you into a place where you have substance so the dekabor cannot touch you, but that all other eyes will not see you. His slaves will not be able to hit what they cannot see. _

"Cat lady, I like the way you think!" Michelangelo felt Samantha grow solid behind him and he sat down upon her back and let her carry him immaterially back to the dekabor. Sure enough when he dismounted this time none of the nearby fighters seemed to see him. The dekabor could, however and roared angrily at him.

Michelangelo laughed viciously as he saw the creature back away from him. "What's the matter Deky? Sammy's right, isn't she? It's not the weapons you're afraid of, but it's me!"

_You are an impudent mortal whelp. If I cannot strike at you, I shall have to strike at a more favorable target._

Michelangelo realized that the dekabor was going to fade away again, and Michelangelo didn't want to keep chasing it down. "Sammy!" He called out reaching out a hand to the cat. "Put me on his level! If I can touch him, I can hold him here! Right?"

_It is dangerous, my friend,_ Samantha told him. _If you can touch him, he can touch you, and harm you._

"But he won't be able to corrupt me right?" Michelangelo asked. He didn't need to see Samantha nodding to know he was right. "Sorry Sam, In this case it's worth it! I have to hold him here until Annie can get here. "

_Very well_ Michelangelo felt Samantha's tail slide across the back of his shell. Suddenly the dekabor was no longer transparent. The rest of the world had faded away into a dark grey cloud.

"Oh shell," Michelangelo muttered. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all!

The dekabor was beginning to become immaterial again so Michelangelo reached out and grabbed one of the tentacles. "You are NOT getting away again Deky!" He called.

Grabbing the dekabor physically HURT. Michelangelo felt a burning heat where he was touching the evil creature, but he would not let go. With his free hand he drew Leonardo's katana again, and brandished it in front of the demon.

The dekabor wrenched its tentacle free from Michelangelo's hand leaving burn marks. The tentacle lashed out against his plastron burning it, and would have come down a second time had he not blocked with Leonardo's katana. The dekabor screamed and used three of its tentacles like a whip to fling Michelangelo down to the floor. Michelangelo saw the next strike coming and found he could not move fast enough out of the oncoming attack.

"Oh shell!" He muttered.

Coming Soon Chapter 16 To the Rescue

"Is Mikey still following it?" Donatello asked anxiously.

"He's trying to," Raphael said. His attention turned inward for a moment. Then suddenly he dropped to his knees as if something had hit him in the gut. To Leonardo's shock and horror Raphael began to turn transparent.

"Annie!" Leonardo shouted causing both the witch and Casey to see what was going on.

Annie knelt down at Raphael's side and tried to grab onto his hand. She whispered an incantation, and was able to hold him, but he was still transparent. She began to chant something else but Raphael was looking out at the dekabor, and said, "No Annie! I can see Mikey like this!"

"Annie, what's happening to him?" Casey said growing angry.

Annie looked up at the others. "It has to be Samantha," she explained. "Sammy's taken Mike to a really deep level of the spirit world. Some level's won't affect Raphael but the deeper ones will. Remember part of Raph is with them. If Samantha drag's Mikey down into the lower levels of the spirit world Raph would have to follow."

"That's why I can see him!" Raphael said as he tried to rise to his feet. "He's trying to grab onto that dekabor thing, but it's hurting him!"

"He's grabbing it?" Annie said stunned. "That means he's on the same level as the dekabor now! It can kill him!"


	17. Chapter 16 To the Rescue

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 16 To the Rescue

"How does it do that?" Leonardo asked Raphael as they watched the dekabor vanish and reappear a hundred yards to the left.

"You got me, Leo," Raphael said as he pulled his cleansed sai. "It was doing that the last time. It would vanish and then reappear somewhere else."

"Is Mikey still following it?" Donatello asked anxiously.

"He's trying to," Raphael said. His attention turned inward for a moment. Then suddenly he dropped to his knees as if something had hit him in the gut. To Leonardo's shock and horror Raphael began to turn transparent.

"Annie!" Leonardo shouted causing both the witch and Casey to see what was going on.

Annie knelt down at Raphael's side, and tried to grab onto his hand. At first her hand passed through Raphael's. She whispered an incantation and then was able to hold him even though he was still transparent. She began to chant something else, but Raphael was looking out at the dekabor, and said, "No Annie! I can see Mikey like this!"

"Annie what's happening to him?" Casey said growing angry.

Annie looked up at the others. "It has to be Samantha," she explained. "Sammy's taken Mike to a really deep level of the spirit world. Some level's won't affect Raphael, but the deeper ones will. Remember part of Raph is with them. If Samantha drags Mikey down into the lower levels of the spirit world Raph would have to follow."

"That's why I can see him!" Raphael said as he tried to rise to his feet. "He's trying to grab onto that dekabor thing, but it's hurting him!"

"He's grabbing it?" Annie said stunned. "That means he's on the same level as the dekabor now! It can kill him!"

Raphael was getting visibly agitated. "Raph," Leonardo tried to remind his brother, "remember that we still can't see Mikey. What can you tell us?"

"I think Mikey is trying to keep it from vanishing on him. He's pushing that thing west and . . . "Raphael broke off, and roared in anger, "Mikey no!" Without another word, he raced down the embankment not even noticing the trees and rocks he was passing through.

"Raph!" Leonardo called back, but Raphael was already fading from his vision as he stopped fighting the magic that pulled him out of phase with the world. "Annie!" Leonardo barked next. "We have to find them now!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Raphael saw the dekabor barreling down on Michelangelo, who was already plastered to the ground, and flung his cleansed sai towards the creature. It sailed right above Michelangelo's head, and embedded itself deep into the creature. The dekabor roared shocked to see Raphael fighting besides his brother.

"Raph!" Michelangelo said happily. "But how?"

"What did you and that cat of hers do to me?" Raphael asked teasingly. "I knew giving you that pendant was going to be a mistake."

Michelangelo knew the joke for what it was, and turned with a vicious grin back at the evil demon. "You're through now Deky. You're not escaping us!"

The dekabor chuckled evilly. _If I cannot have you, I shall have your brothers, have you forgotten?_

"Don't count on it!" A voice said behind them. Leonardo was there on their left, Donatello was on the right, and behind them were Casey and Annie. Around Annie was a glowing blue light.

"You can't win," Annie said. "Go back to your own world. We don't want you here!"

Michelangelo rose to his feet, and together they advanced on the dekabor step by step, herding it to a glowing hole he saw a block away. That had to be the rift that the dekabor needed to go through.

Inch by inch, step by step Michelangelo and the others managed to force the dekabor backwards until the evil creature was backed up against the porthole to it's own dimension lay. Annie was flanked by Donatello, Casey and Leonardo who were keeping the dekabor's victims from the others. She gathered her power around her making a strong wind that only seemed to affect the dekabor, Michelangelo and Raphael. It forced the creature closer and closer to the porthole "Get out of here!" Annie said. "Go back to the depths from which you came, dekabor we don't want you here!"

_I will not go witch!_ The dekabor cried out. As the wind increased in strength it wrapped a tentacle around Raphael's leg. Raphael and Michelangelo were still on the same spiritual level as the dekabor, and it drew him closer using him as a shield against Annie and Michelangelo. _I will live in this world,_ it said viciously. _I will feast on the despair of your children and live forever on their hopelessness!_

Annie and Michelangelo froze. If they forced the dekabor through the porthole it would take Raphael through with it. For a second the world was suspended in the stalemate then Michelangelo pulled Raphael's sai out of the dekabor, and sliced through the tentacle holding Raphael. He then pushed the dekabor into the hole, but the dekabor wasn't ready to give up yet.

_No! No I won't go back! I won't!_ The dekabor twisted its tentacle's around Michelangelo, and tried to drag him into the porthole as Michelangelo tried to force it in.

"Mikey stop! It's gonna pull you in with it!" Raphael shouted, but Michelangelo continued to push the creature into the porthole, and the creature continued to pull him in with it.

"Raph! Use your will," Annie said suddenly. "Part of you is with Michelangelo. Just like what Samantha did to him affected you, what you want can affect him if you work with me. You're still connected to me. If we channel my energy through you, we can pull him back!"

Raphael considered this. Did he want to give himself completely over to the spells holding him? He had been resisting them with every fiber of his being. It was his nature to resist constraints. How could he just give in and accept what Annie had done to him?

_She saved your soul you moron_, his conscious nagged at him. He looked up at Michelangelo who was pushing and being dragged into that hole.

_Do you wanna save Mikey or not?_

Without even understanding how he was doing what he was doing, Raphael relaxed the part of his mind that had been subconsciously resisting Annie's energies. The moment his defenses had dropped he found himself filled with a power that he didn't understand, but the force behind this power knew what it had to do. He thought the energy would turn him into a puppet where he wasn't in control of his mind and body, but instead the energy around him cradled him gently and guided him with gentle nudges on what he had to do.

His mind focused on Michelangelo, and the pendant around his neck where part of Raphael's spirit was housed. He pulled on the pendant calling it back to himself. Behind him the power that was streaming from Annie pulled in that direction. Raphael remembered vaguely that this was the sensation he had before when Annie and Michelangelo had reinforced the spells on his body and spirit. This time, however, he and Annie were pulling together and they were pulling on Michelangelo's mind, body, and spirit as a physical thing to prevent him from being forced into the porthole, but the dekabor was pulling as well, and he was pulling Michelangelo in with him.

_No!_ Raphael thought. He put everything he was, his strength, his rage, and his love for his brother into the force pulling Michelangelo away from the dekabor, and even then he was worried that it would not be enough.

Suddenly Samantha was at his side as immaterial as he was. She ran through Michelangelo and came out with something he had slung in a makeshift sheath at his back.

It was Leonardo's cleansed katana that Michelangelo had stolen.

She rematrialized at Leonardo's side with his blade. Leonardo jumped to Raphael's left. Raphael was so caught up in concentrating he didn't notice what Leonardo was doing until he saw the slicing motion out of the corner of his eye, and the howl of the dekabor as it fell back. Michelangelo suddenly fell at his feet as if he had been flung there, the dekabor's orange tentacles still burning around his wrists. In a flash Raphael knelt down and removed the tentacles from around Michelangelo's wrists and threw the remains of the demon back into its hole.

He didn't ask Annie to seal the rift. Instead he pulled power from her, and somehow managed to seal the rift himself. He didn't know how he was doing so, but he was using Annie's magic combined with his strength to make sure that the rift between their world and the dekabor's would never open again.

The dekabor was finally gone. All that remained was the crowd of people the dekabor had controlled milling around confused and frightened as the sight of Leonardo and Donatello.

Annie used her power and pulled some energy from Raphael. He let her, not resisting, knowing that in sealing the rift he had used a lot of her power. She waved her hand at the people milling about and said to them. "Go home, and sleep. Today was just a bad dream." The humans began wandering off, paying no attention to the six.

Once the last of the crowd was gone Raphael relaxed. He found that most of his energies were depleted from the battle. Michelangelo was at his feet, totally spent. His eyes were closed, and his breathing heavy with exhaustion. Raphael knelt down, and held his brother, noticing the multiple burn marks on his arms and even on his plastron, where the dekabor had touched him.

"Mikey, Mikey what were you thinking?" Raphael asked him. "That thing almost pulled you in with it."

Samantha slid up to Michelangelo, and formed a support for Michelangelo's back.

Michelangelo, weary, but still conscious, opened his eyes, and grinned at his brother. "Had to send it back, bro," Michelangelo said with effort. "Couldn't let it get away again."

"But it almost took you with it!" Raphael answered with real fear. "Do you know what that thing would have done to you in it's own world?"

Michelangelo showed the burns on his skin almost proudly. "Couldn't corrupt me."

"Maybe not, Mikey," Raphael asked, "but it would have killed you, painfully, just to get even." Suddenly he shivered with cold. Why had it gotten so suddenly cold? It was when Leonardo and Donatello knelt next to him did he realize that he and Michelangelo were visible now, and back in the real world.

"Michelangelo?" Leonardo asked. Michelangelo reached up to Leonardo. Raphael and Leonardo both grabbed onto Michelangelo's hand.

"Raph, what happened?" Donatello asked. "Leo and I couldn't see what was going on."

"Mikey pushed that thing back into its hole, but it almost pulled him in with it!" Raphael told them.

"How did he get so burned?" Leonardo asked. Worriedly.

"The dekabor couldn't corrupt him," Annie explained. "The same forces that attracted the dekabor to Raphael, make Michelangelo repulsive to it. Touching Mikey hurt it as much as it hurt him."

Annie went on to say something else, but Raphael was on his last legs, and his ears weren't quiet working. Someone helped him to his feet, but he couldn't tell who it was. He allowed himself to be guided back to the Battle shell. He greyed out for a bit and only became aware again when he realized that someone was setting him down on a couch. He tried to open his eyes, but he found that he couldn't. He was about to panic when he felt someone brush his forehead. His panic fell away and he found his grip on the world was fading again.

"Go back to sleep Raph," a soft female voice said. Raphael felt something be placed in his hand. He didn't know what it was but for some reason holding it made him feel secure, content, and at peace. It was the last thought he had before exhaustion claimed him again.

Coming Soon Chapter 17 Problems Resolved.

Leonardo helped Annie to her feet. Raphael didn't wait for help and got up himself. He was more than ready to get out of here. "I don't know about you bros but I could go for some eats. How about we go to Casey's and he can splurge for an early breakfast!"

"Great idea!" Donatello said

"Hey wait a minute!" Casey protested.

"Lets go!" Leonardo said. They all loved needling Casey.

"No, we can't go!"

They all turned and looked at Michelangelo still sitting on the mattress. He looked genuinely distressed. Before anyone could ask him what was wrong. He said, "We may have solved Raph's problem, but what about mine?"


	18. Chapter 17 Problems Resolved

That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night

Disclaimer: The TMNT belongs to Mirage and other people not me.

Chapter 17 Problems Resolved.

Low conversations woke Raphael. One of the voices he was sure was Casey. Laying there, listening to the murmur of voices, he was able to pick out Leonardo's voice and Donatello's. The last voice was feminine, and it only took Raphael a few more moments to identify the voice as Annie's. He could also hear Annie's thoughts whispering in his mind as well. That meant the spell on him was still in operation.

"He's waking up," Annie said calmly. Raphael finally was able to open his eyes. He looked up at his two brothers, Casey, and Annie looking back at him.

"How do you feel Raph?" Leonardo asked.

Raphael quickly gauged how good he felt, and compared it to what he was used to. "Still beat," he admitted. He noticed that they had moved him and Michelangelo to an air mattress. He sat up slowly, and looked down at Michelangelo who was next to him, still deeply asleep. All the burn areas had been bandaged carefully. Next to Michelangelo was Samantha looking like a small black panther with blue eyes. She sat there, curled up under Michelangelo's arm, purring. "How's Mikey?"

"About as exhausted as you were," Leonardo said, relaxing a trifle. Leonardo never relaxed completely outside the Lair, but when one of them was hurt he would never drop his guard. "He didn't even try to wake up when we got here. You started struggling, but Annie did something that put you back to sleep."

Raphael vaguely remembered trying to wake up. "I couldn't open my eyes. I wanted to but I couldn't. Annie calmed me down."

"You wanted to wake up, but your body wouldn't let you," Annie explained. "You just needed to rest. It took a lot of energy to beat back the dekabor and seal it away. That's why you two are tired. Most of that energy came from you guys."

"So you didn't use up any of your energy?" Raphael asked, his voice taking on a sour note. "You just used us like a pair of batteries?"

"Oh she used up hers too," Donatello quickly reassured him. "She passed out on the way back here, and only woke up long enough to help us inside with you two. She then went right back to sleep. She just woke up twenty minutes before you did."

"And I'm still feeding him energy," Annie complained. "Just because his spirit is back in his hands he's still bound by the spell so I can still send him power. He never went back to fighting me."

"You're what?" Raphael asked. Then he realized. That's why he could still hear Annie in the back of his mind, but why did she say that his spirit was back with him? It was only then that he noticed. Whatever she had placed in his hand earlier was still there. He had been unconsciously clutching at it the entire time. Curious he opened his hand and found inside the little red gold turtle pendant that Annie had cast a part of him into. Instantly he looked at Michelangelo again. There was no pendant around his neck. He was holding it. He looked up at Annie puzzled yet hopeful.

"The dekabor is gone Raph," Annie said with a smile. "There's no need for me to hold on to you any longer." Before he could say anything, Annie continued. "But if your smart you won't ask me to break the bonds just yet. I am feeding you with mage energy right now to help you recover. I'd do it for Mike too if I could. If you want to be freed now I can, but If I were you I'd wait until you felt more like your old self."

Raphael so wanted the spell off of him right then and now, but something Annie said caught his attention. "What do you mean you'd do it for Mikey if you could?" A bit worried he checked on Michelangelo. He seemed to be in an extremely deep sleep. Raphael put his hand on Michelangelo's arm and found it to be relatively cool. Concerned, he took a blanket that had fallen to his side, and placed it over his brother's shoulders.

"I don't have a direct line to Mikey," Annie reminded him. "I can't feed him energy directly, only through you, and I wasn't going to ask, but as long as I'm able too, I might as well help you recover."

Raphael wasn't sure if he should be grateful or resentful to Annie for feeding him her magical energies to recover, but Michelangelo was another story. He hated it whenever Michelangelo got hurt. Only when he was in recovery, did Michelangelo fuss and complain. Not that he didn't like having the others at his beck and call, but he hated being in pain. Donatello would sedate Michelangelo more often than Leonardo or himself, and for far less. Raphael and Leonardo would do nearly anything to keep Michelangelo happy and healthy. Both have them have taken blows to keep Michelangelo uninjured.

_And if you want to help Mikey now, you'll suck up the magic and let Annie do her thing._ Raphael sighed, and cursed himself under his breath.

"What was that Raph?" Leonardo asked.

"Nothing," he muttered back. Then he looked up at Annie and said to her. "Annie, if you can help Mikey wake up faster I . . . I guess I'll let you use me."

Annie eyed Raphael suspiciously. "You want me to?" She asked.

Raphael's eyes narrowed and he glowered at the young witch. "Do I have to tell you everything twice?" He snapped.

That got a laugh from his brothers and Casey. "You'd better do what the turtle says Annie," Casey said with a grin. "Sounds like Raph has some energy to burn anyway." Raphael glared back at Casey who laughed, and made a face at Raphael.

"Wait a minute Annie," Donatello said. "Didn't you say that you could borrow energy from us to help get everyone up to speed?"

"If you're willing," Annie said surprised. "If you trust me."

"You gotta understand them Annie," Casey said with a shrug. "They won't be happy until everyone's better. Hey, can I help too?"

"Sure," Annie answered. "You stand here between me and Raph, and put your hand on his shoulder. Don, you go sit next to Mikey, and give me your hand. Leo you sit between Raph and Mikey." When everyone was in position, she asked. "Everyone in contact?" When she got nods all around, she lifted her head to the sky, and closed her eyes. She chanted something that they didn't understand, but Raphael felt the difference immediately. It was like she had turned each one of them into a living energy source, and opened the floodgates between the six of them. He felt energy flooding into him from Leonardo and Casey, but along the line he knew some of the energy he was getting was simply passing through him to move into either Michelangelo or Annie.

Suddenly it was over. Casey and Leonardo dropped his hands. Raphael looked up at Casey who looked slightly worse for wear. "Ugh!" Casey complained. "I need an aspirin now!"

"Nobody said you had to help," Annie reminded him. Raphael's attention turned to Leonardo who looked fine, except Raphael caught him suppressing a yawn. Leonardo's attention turned to Michelangelo, who was beginning to stir.

Michelangelo seemed to be remembering the last few seconds before he had passed out. "Get . . . get in there you . . . " Suddenly he paused, and his face scrunched up with confusion. He opened his eyes, and looked at the group around him. "What happened?"

Donatello smiled gently. "Raph and Leo managed to save you from the dekabor, but doing that pulled all the energy out of you guys. Annie just helped us replace some of it."

Annie nodded with a smile. "Only one thing left to do." She knelt down in front of the air mattress. "Raph, hold the pendant out in your hands like this. Mikey, that mental rope you've been holding on for me it's time to let go of it now." As Michelangelo nodded Annie gently took Raphael's hands, and curled his fingers around the reddish gold pendant. "Take it back now," Annie instructed him gently. "It's yours."

Raphael closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. He knew exactly what Annie wanted him to do. Concentrating, he did what he had been trying to do for the last few days. He pulled on the part of himself that Annie had stolen, and this time he was rewarded by a feeling of being filled. This felt even better than the energy boost Annie had just given him. For the first time in days he felt right. He felt whole! He opened his eyes and opened his hands. The pendant was still there, but now instead of red gold, it was an ordinary yellow gold turtle. Satisfied, he looked up at Annie. He knew he should thank her, but he couldn't bring himself too. After all if it wasn't for her he wouldn't have had this problem to start with.

Leonardo helped Annie to her feet. Raphael didn't wait for help and got up himself. He was more than ready to get out of there. "I don't know about you bros, but I could go for some eats. How about we go to Casey's and he can splurge for an early breakfast!"

"Great idea!" Donatello said

"Hey wait a minute!" Casey protested.

"Lets go!" Leonardo said. They all loved needling Casey.

"No, we can't go!"

They all turned and looked at Michelangelo still sitting on the mattress. He looked genuinely distressed. Before anyone could ask him what was wrong he said, "We may have solved Raph's problem, but what about mine?"

Raphael sighed and rolled his eyes. Leonardo and Donatello looked concerned. "He's right," Leonardo said. "We still have Mikey's premonitions to deal with."

Now Raphael was getting annoyed. "Maybe I'm just being stupid, but I wanna know. Why are Mikey's dreams a problem?" Before the others could protest, Raphael continued. "Think about it guys! Mikey stopped that dekabor from causing serious damage. I mean what if he hadn't had that dream that first night when I was going to Casey's? That dekabor would have swallowed me whole and then used me to get you guys!" Raphael turned to Leonardo. "He led you here and stopped me from breaking Annie's spells! He also led us right to the dekabor. That gift of his isn't a problem, it solved problems!"

"The problem is that we're not having the dreams, Mikey is," Leonardo said evenly.

"The dreams aren't under his control," Donatello reminded Raphael. "You know how he gets when he has one!"

"So all he's gotta do is get them under control!" Raphael said stubbornly. "Splinter says he can if he wants to."

"I don't want to," Michelangelo said accusingly. "I just want to stop having them."

Raphael was getting angry now, but before he could say a word Leonardo held up a hand to stop him. As Raphael seethed, Leonardo knelt down and went eye to eye with Michelangelo.

"Mikey, you know I'll do whatever you want to get rid of these dreams, but you know Raph is right. Can you look me in the eye now after everything you've done for us and tell us that you want to throw it all away?"

Michelangelo looked away from Leonardo. "You guys don't understand! I don't want anything to happen to you guys, but I never know when they're gonna come, or what I'm gonna see, and every time I fight it I get these massive headaches! I don't think I can take another week like this."

Now Raphael felt guilty. Knowing he was right didn't make things better. He had forgotten that Michelangelo suffered through the nightmares. They were never easy for them, and all of them were always afraid that one night he might loose his grip on the real world.

"Annie, there's gotta be something you can do for him," Casey said.

Annie shook her head sadly. "I told you before. I can't change what he is. I can't make the dreams go away."

"Can you at least fix it so that Mikey can get control of them?" Leonardo asked. When she turned to him questioningly, Leonardo continued. "It didn't seem to hurt him as much when he used your crystal ball over there."

"It didn't hurt at all when I used Annie's crystal ball," Michelangelo said thoughtfully. "And it didn't hurt when I used the little one up in your room either."

"You used the crystal in my room?" Annie asked surprised. "By yourself?"

"Well Sammy helped me," Michelangelo said. Samantha jumped into Michelangelo's lap. Absentmindedly, he began petting her. "She didn't do anything to my head though. She just told me what to do and I did it."

Annie stared at Michelangelo for a few seconds, and then asked him gently. "Do you want a scrying crystal of your own Mike? That may very well solve your biggest problem with your gift."

"It will?" Michelangelo asked.

"If you scry on a regular basis," Annie explained, "the pressure in your mind won't build up and the visions won't be as intense as your nightmares have been. You'll know they're just a vision. If you do it like every week there's even a chance after a while you won't see things all the time."

"What do you say, Mikey?" Leonardo asked, "do you want to give it a try?"

Michelangelo still looked slightly skeptical. "Do you actually have a spare crystal ball?"

Annie laughed. "Leo, give me a hand for a minute," She said. Leonardo followed Annie back to the front of her shop. The others all heard some whispering for a few minutes then they returned with Leonardo carrying a large case. He knelt back down in front of Michelangelo, and opened it. Annie removed the silk covering to reveal about twenty small billiard ball sized crystals of varying colors.

"Man!" Michelangelo said in awe. He ran his hands over the stones lightly and some responded to his touch by lighting up. Raphael took a step back startled. He didn't expect magic to work for Michelangelo.

"Pick which one feels right," Annie said. "Don't be surprised if it's not what you expect."

Raphael saw a gleaming orange topaz and thought that was going to be Michelangelo's choice, but he closed his eyes as he ran his fingers over the crystals, and chose instead a gleaming blue green aquamarine. "This one," he said opening his eyes. The small blue globe flared to life suddenly and Michelangelo with no prompting stared into it. "Master Splinter's really worried about us," he said suddenly in a strangely detached voice. "We should go home soon."

"Yes I think so," Annie said with a smile. She gently pried the crystal out of Michelangelo's hands, and slipped it into a small bag of black silk. She got up to find a case for the crystal, and the others watched as Michelangelo seemed to wake from the trance the crystal laid on him.

"Huh?" Michelangelo blinked and shook his head to clear it. He looked up at Casey and his brothers who were smiling amused. "Okay what did I just do?" He asked. As he looked at their expressions he said, "I just saw something in that crystal ball didn't I?"

"Nothing we couldn't have guessed at," Leonardo said evenly. "It's time to go home guys."

"About time," Raphael said. "Let's blow this pop stand."

Leonardo was the last to leave the shop. As Annie handed him the box that held Michelangelo's new crystal Leonardo said, "He won't say it, but I will. Thank you for watching out for us."

"You're welcome," Annie said. "Don't worry I'll keep an eye on things from my end."

Leonardo knew that meant that Annie would watch for magical threats to them. Even if Michelangelo didn't foresee a problem, Annie would warn them. He bowed to her and followed his brothers out to the Battle Shell.

"So if we're going to your place that means you'll have to spring for breakfast!" Casey said as they took their seats in the Battle Shell.

"Don't bet on it Case," Raphael said with a grin. In his hands was Casey's wallet. "Look what I got!"

"Hey!" Casey protested. He began to try to chase Raphael around for his wallet. Raphael tossed it to Leonardo. Leonardo smoothly caught the wallet and gave it back to Casey after he snatched twenty dollars from it.

"Quiet you guys," Donatello scolded in a hushed voice. "Look."

In one of the back chairs with his feet propped up on the console Michelangelo sat oblivious to everyone, sound asleep.

Leonardo smiled. "Sweet dreams Mikey."

The End:

Okay Maybe not the end Epilogue coming soon:) Sorry no teasers this time:)


	19. Epilouge

Epilogue:

Raphael was working out alone in the dojo when Donatello poked his head in. He waited a few seconds for Raphael to finish his exercise. When Raphael stopped Donatello said softly, "It's time."

Raphael sighed but he didn't argue. He didn't feel comfortable doing this, but as Donatello and Leonardo kept reminding him, he was as responsible for Michelangelo's condition as the rest of them. He followed his brother up to Leonardo's room, and took a seat next to Donatello on Leonardo's bed.

Leonardo was waiting for them. "I thought you weren't going to show," he told Raphael. He tried to keep his voice even, but Raphael could tell that it was a slight accusation.

"Look I said I'd sit through a few of these. I didn't say I'd like it." Raphael complained.

"It's not that bad," Leonardo said getting a small copper box down from his shelf. "I just want to make sure we all know how to deal with this. I might not be able to do this every week."

"All right all right!" Raphael said sourly. "When's Mikey gonna show?"

"After I do this," Leonardo opened the box before him, and slipped the bright blue green crystal out of its case. As far as Raphael could tell nothing was happening, but within three minutes Michelangelo entered the room.

Leonardo smiled pleased, and set the crystal down next to a pillow on the floor. He sat next to the bed with his brothers. Together they watched as Michelangelo sat down on the pillow, and picked the crystal up. Instantly the crystal flared to life.

"Come to Mikey, baby!" He said to the crystal. For a moment he was bathed in it's light. Then he closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

Raphael took his eyes off of Michelangelo for a second to glance at Leonardo. He was leaning up against the bed watching Michelangelo with a slight smile. His body language was as relaxed as Leonardo ever got, so Raphael knew that things were going the way they were supposed to.

"Tell us what you see, Mikey," Leonardo said softly.

Staring into the crystal Michelangelo smiled. "I can see your friend Usagi again. He's with Genosuke. They're fighting some really weird panther dudes."

Leonardo nodded, but said nothing.

"I can see April too." Michelangelo continued. "Heh, she and Casey are going to go out next week. They're saying it's not a date again, but they're going to that new Imax Movie at the Sony Theater."

The three of them chuckled. Raphael wondered if April and Casey had any idea that Mikey could now give them a play by play every time the pair went out.

"It looks like Michelle is five here, and somebody's been teaching her acrobatics." Michelangelo chuckled. "And I see Traximus! He's in the Triceriton Senate and he's yelling his head off, but I think he's enjoying it!" Suddenly the crystal went dark. "That's it. I don't see anything else." Michelangelo put the crystal down on the plate where Leonardo had set it before. He stretched out and yawned sleepily.

Leonardo got up and helped Michelangelo to his feet. "Go on to bed, Mikey," Leonardo said.

Michelangelo seemed to be only half aware of what was going on around him. He yawned again and said sleepily. "Okay, Leo." With that he wandered off to his own room.

Raphael was off of the bed first and watched as Michelangelo went into his room. "That's it?" He asked.

"That's it," Leonardo said. "After the first three weeks he really hasn't been seeing anything significant, but Annie said it's good to keep him on a schedule. Eventually he won't even need me to open the case for him. He'll come looking for it himself."

"Does he remember anything?" Donatello asked

"Not really," Leonardo admitted. "He knows he's doing it, but he doesn't seem to remember anything he tells me, and he's said that's the way he wants it. I figured that if he ever needs to know something, then he'll remember it. I just want to make sure you both know to keep him on schedule, and what you can expect."

"Okay Leo," Raphael said. Then curious he asked, "Mikey is really gonna go to sleep now?"

Leonardo nodded. "Yeah, whatever he's doing must really take something out of him. He'll sleep for the rest of the night now."

"Good," Raphael said. "In that case I get dibs on the TV!" With that he raced out of the room and flipped down to the lower level to the video monolith.

There was nothing on television that he wanted to see. "I don't' believe it," he complained.

"You really didn't want to watch television did you?" Donatello asked as he came down the stairs.

"I would if there was something on," Raphael answered annoyed. "But it's okay, as long as Mikey's getting a good night sleep again." Bored Raphael began flipping channels hoping to find something interesting.

Donatello just smiled, and wandered off to his workshop. Raphael continued to flip channels until he saw Harry Potter on the screen.

"No way," he said shutting the television. "I've had enough of magic and evil demons to last a lifetime." He tossed the remote onto the table and simply closed his eyes. In seconds he was asleep himself. He never noticed the little glowing spell on the back of his shell.

Annie smiled as she shut down her own crystal ball. Michelangelo might have sensed a watcher spell on him, but Raphael and Donatello never knew what hit them. The little magical spy planted on their shells would allow her to watch them any time she wanted.

"Sweet dreams guys," she said with a smile. "I'll be watching out for you."


End file.
